


Alike, Unlike

by irond0rkness



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: AU - No Iron Man, AU inside the kinda sorta canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, But Which Tony???, Established Relationship, F/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is happy, iron dad and spiderson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2019-10-04 10:47:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 31,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17303210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irond0rkness/pseuds/irond0rkness
Summary: This is not his world. Never was, never will be.There's already a Tony Stark here, there's no need for a worse version of him to drop in out if nowhere.Here, things seem better. This version of him is happier, with less guilt dragging him down.But something feels off. Things are too good to be true.And most importantly, there is no Iron Man.





	1. Arrival

This world is like his.

This world belongs to another version of him, a better version, a happier one.

He sees him smile without ever remembering the Infinity War or the Battle of New York.

Iron Man once existed, but the Tony Stark of that world can now rest, the hero life just a memory.

The other Tony Stark doesn't have to spend his final days in a spaceship floating in space with no rescue in sight.

He hopes that the window between universes is real and not just an illusion made by his oxygen-deprived mind.

Not that he can access that world, but it's nice to think that at least one version of him can be happy. Happy without seeing his failures in his dreams.

Tony doesn't know how the window came to be. One moment he was staring into empty space and the other he was surrounded by a hologram version of another world.

It broke his heart to see his son alive and happy again just for his hands to go through him when he ran to him to hug Peter.

He felt something dark and malicious when he saw the other version of him, calling the other Peter his son and have the boy call him dad.

It was irrational, he knew that, but he used to wish for the day the boy would see him as a father figure and not just an annoying mentor.

Tony screamed, tears running down his face. There was no point in suppressing his emotions anymore, no need to look strong for anyone.   
He was no longer a perfect celebrity or a superhero, he was a human being with emotions, no matter how painful it was to admit it.

Tony Stark never got hurt or cried, but Tony did.

Tony wasn't as good as the former, but he existed nevertheless.  
And it was just Tony who was viewing the other universe from his floating spaceship, a small mercy before his impending doom.

He and Pepper are together in this universe and despite the fact that they already have two kids, they adopted Peter as one of their own.

The other Tony looks younger than him, the lines on his face not as prominent, his shoulders not hunched under the weight of responsibilities.

There are a few gray hairs on his head, but unlike the Tony who is watching him, they are not hidden under black hair dye to preserve the image and make him look healthier than he actually is.

And the other one looks healthy as fuck in Tony's standards.

He is happy and despite the few pounds he has put on since becoming a dad, he looks like an actual human being compared to Tony, who is scarred and beaten, bruises littering his body.

Not even his beard is as sharp as Tony's, the harsh edges just the teeniest bit softer, yet maintaining the iconic goatee that he had had since he could grow a beard thick enough.

He shouldn't cry like a baby in front of the hologram of his son, but he did.  
Nothing he has ever felt could compare to the horror of losing Peter.

He would go through Afganistan again if it meant that his son could live once more. He would do it even if it meant that he would never see him again, never be the mentor he has been for months.

If it meant that Peter, the brilliant-minded superhero would live, he would do anything.

But he can't do anything.

He is stuck in space after half the life in his universe has been wiped away.

The other Tony never had to face anything like that, the Titan was killed without his help. Well, that's what the news says and the lack of usual cuts and scrapes from missions solidifies that.

He envies the other, he envies the peace he has, the mostly uninterrupted sleep and mostly, the happy family and friends that surround him. While still being the head of R&D in Stark Industries, the great Tony Stark has become a regular dad, as wild as it sounds.

A dark side of him wishes for the other to see the hardships he has been through, how he has suffered, but the rational part of him just wants the other to be happy.

It's strange to sit on cushions made of illusions, knowing that in reality there should be empty air and harsh, cold metal of the spaceship he is currently trapped in. He enjoys the warm sunlight over the distant stars he could see from his windows. He is not alone, even if the surrounding people are just illusions, they are still people from a place that hopefully does exist.

The world seems very real and even after walking around a bit, he hasn't hit any barriers. He is not even tired and dizzy anymore, the air is crisp and smells like freshly mowed grass.

"Tony," someone says.

Instinctively, his head snaps to the direction of the speaker.

A beaten, but perfectly dressed Stephen Strange has entered the home of the Stark family like an old friend.

"You have a visitor here," the wizard pays no attention at the other Tony, he is looking straight at the impostor sitting on the couch, his eyes narrowing in distrust.

"Strange," the word comes out of Tony's mouth in a single, low gasp.

This place is just an illusion.

Right?


	2. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strange threatens Tony, thinking he is an enemy of mystical origin whose masquerade of Tony Stark is just rather bad.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Steph. Unless you call yourself the visitor, there's absolutely nobody here. You said it yourself, this house is definitely not haunted," the other states, eyebrow raised in question.

To that, the sorcerer is alarmed and insisted: "Tony, there's an another version of you just hanging out on the couch and you see no problem in that? Not to mention, he is surrounded by strange energy usually not found in humans."

The other one frowns at that, eyebrows knitting together in deep concern and asks: "Are you okay?" he gripped his shoulder and continued, "If the fight against Thanos is still screwing with you, you should really take it easy for a while or seek help."

Strange brushed him off and walked to the couch Tony was sitting on, glowing magic shields up to protect himself from the potential threat.

Tony couldn't move, he was both perplexed and terrified at the sight of the sorcerer coming his way.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" his eyes narrowed and he accused: "Are you a shapeshifter? Some kind of an illusion from another mage?" the orange circular shields sparked angrily to reflect his rage "Answer me or face the wrath of the Sorcerer Supreme!" 

"Steph, what the fuck are you doing? There's nothing or nobody there."

Strange's head snapped to the side to look at the man, his eyes wide and confused.

"You can't see that thing? There's a copy of yourself sitting on your couch and you don't even notice it?"

The other Tony sputtered at that, but Strange lowered his shields and begun to cast another spell.

By that time, Tony had snapped out of his motionless trance and while the mage was distracted, he got off the couch and walked away.

This illusion was getting more frustrating by the second including the evergrowing nag at the back of his head told him that he was really in the other universe. He wasn't looking at it through a window, virtual reality or seeing something his oxygen-deprived brain made up.

Walking away was his attempt at distancing himself from the situation and with it the need to think about the questions he had about this world.

Before he could exit the room though, a blast of magic hit his back, causing a freezing sensation to spread all over his body.

It felt like the cold of Siberia once again but before the fear could fully envelop him, it ended and graced him with warmth once more.

Goosebumps covered him and he shivered but then a voice sounded behind him, yelling: "HOLY SHIT, WHO IS THAT?"

Tony rose up from the ground the spell made him sink onto and looked back to Strange and the other version of him.

Stephen raised his magically shielded hands once more and stated: "I have fully solidified your form, so there's no way for you to escape through nonmaterial magical ways. Now, tell me what you are and why you are here. I will not hesitate to eliminate you if you resist."

This may have all be an illusion, but Tony still had some self-preservation, so he raised his hands to show that he was no threat and answered: "I don't know who else do you think I am, but I'm Tony Stark. I don't know why I'm here, I never intended to come here." He tried to sound casual and arrogant, but even he could hear the clear defeat and exhaustion in his tone.

To his left, the other Tony piped up and said, his voice quivering: "Stephen, that's me over there. Why is he like this?"

Tony laughed at that, a hollow, cracking laugh that sounded like nails on a chalkboard: "Nothing all that serious, just had half the people in my universe wiped away after a teeny tiny battle."

"Admirable deflect, I would say. Too bad it's not enough to fool the Master of the Mystic Arts. I have warned you, now continue talking but stop making a snarky comment every two seconds. You are not Tony Stark nor will you ever be him!" the sorcerer barked.

"I guess I could try. Sharing is caring and all that or whatever they like to say." the man shuffled to the couch once more, feeling the twin pair of eyes burn his back with their intensity, "Now, where do you want me to start?" he asked, meeting their gazes defiantly yet being unable to hide the exhaustion, his shoulders slumping and dread from the upcoming conversation settling in his bones.

The other narrowed his eyes and said: "Start from the beginning."


	3. Storytime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony talks about his universe.

"Wait, which beginning do you mean? Life-beginning, Iron Man-beginning, Avengers-beginning or the half-the-people-are-dead-beginning?"

The tense frown on Strange's face got even sourer with every suggestion Tony listed, so he grumbled: "I know the basics of your life from this Tony, there's no need for your warped perspective of your previous life to soil the mind of my friend. I don't know who Iron Man is, so start from there."

The other, who had been sitting on the side, trying to comprehend and analyze the situation, piped up: "I once built a suit to escape captivity and take down Obadiah Stane. The public called me Iron Man, but I haven't even touched the suit in years, much less worn it."

Tony clapped his hands together to get the attention back to him and to show that he was ready to talk. It worked, but his motions were sluggish and the enthusiasm usually seen in the other was gone.

"Alright, Iron Man it is. Unlike you, I kept saving the world in a flying suit of armor, almost died a couple of times, got traumatized, joined the Avengers." he hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Wait, do you even have Avengers here?"

"Don't worry, even we have an elite superhero team saving the world. I occasionally make their equipment and I gave them a building they could use as a base but I'm not connected to them in any other way," answered the other. 

His voice was neutral, perhaps even friendly, but his eyes were drilling into Tony, judging him, trying to learn about him and the alternate world he was from.

"I do that AND I'm an active member. Well, used to do and used to be. There was a misunderstanding and boom, no Avengers. I stayed as a solo hero, helping people until one day Thanos came for the Infinity Stones. We lost, half of everything alive is gone and when I was on my way home from the battle we had on another planet, my borrowed ship started breaking down and I guess I either hallucinated you to existence or I just dropped into your world."

Both of his listeners had odd, almost disapproving expressions.

Tony should have expected something similar to that, after all, he was from the world where Thanos won. His world was obviously worse, the choices he had made led the world to defeat and destruction.

Stephen cleared his throat and stated: "You gave us the bare minimum of what we asked of you."

"Sorry, I didn't know how much you wanted. If I had known you don't like it, I would have found a way to make it even shorter," he interrupted, his tone lacking any indication that his apology was sincere. It sounded more mocking than anything else.

The sorcerer's initial aggressiveness had dimmed, yet the continuous aggravation from Tony had started to rile him up once again, so he snapped at him: "Stop interrupting me," then he noticed the grayish face of the man and the short-lived grimaces of pain, so he softened a bit and continued: "You aren't looking too well right now, we can postpone the more in-depth conversation for later. You need medical attention."

His eyes widened in shock for a moment but he composed himself and said: "I'm fine, Mr. Strange or whatever your name is. Leave me alone or get me out of this goddamn universe where everyone wants to play 20 questions with me."

Despite the fact that he felt and knew that he was not at the top of his game at the moment, he quickly hopped out of the seat he had been in to prove how very Okay he really was.

As he did that, he was fully reminded of his injuries and the lack of sleep, food, and water he had been getting on the ship. He felt dizziness overtake him and his legs gave out from below him, leaving him tumbling onto the ground before either one of the men in the room arrived to his aid.

After he had been materialized, there was only some time he would seem okay before his ailments would truly take effect. He had been in some pain and felt weak since he became real in this world, but now he felt almost exactly how he did before he got here. 

The only things that were different from the cold and dead spaceship were that there was plenty of oxygen to breathe, the sunlight was closer than a lightyear and there were people around him.

Tony tried to get off the ground but all he was capable of was a weak twitch.

He was very tired for some reason, his eyes closing against his will and consciousness leaving him even through the loud shouting coming from somewhere far away.


	4. Reawakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Tony has passed out, he finds himself in a hospital room

He awakened to people whispering.

Tony couldn't make out what the voices were saying nor could he muster enough strength to open his eyes and look.  
Everything felt a little foggy and far away and his limbs felt like they had weights attached to them.

The whispers got louder and then faded away into nothingness.

____________________

It was quiet and dark.

He was still tired, but his eyelids were no longer as heavy as mountains so he pressed them open.

Tony was in a room that reminded him of a hospital room.

How he could have arrived in there, he didn't know. Maybe he was rescued from the spaceship he had been stranded in for quite some time.

It was too fuzzy to think properly, much less get out of the bed he was in and leave to room to survey his surrounding, perhaps find someone who could help him or tell him what happened. Hopefully whoever had rescued him had good plans with him and they weren't a HYDRA-like organization.

He was so tired, his grasp on reality fading in and out, the focus on the world lasting a little longer every time.  
If he didn't continue pushing for wakefulness, he would lose the battle and fall back unconscious.

Slowly, the memories of the situation before unconsciousness started to return.

This was not his world. This was getting too realistic for him to try to deny anything. There was no way to escape at the moment and he had no idea what the true motives of other-Stephen and AlterStark were.

Right now he was in a hospital bed, too weak to even sit up with nobody around.

Somehow, he felt almost as alone as he did on the ship. Nobody was there for him to interact with nor was there currently a way to get away from this place.

Then, he heard someone enter his room.

Turning his head, Tony saw that it was no one else but the Sorcerer Supreme himself, this time without the weird robes or the animated cape wrapped around his shoulders.

"You are finally awake. How do you feel?" enquired Strange, having lost all his snark and aggression from last time.

"Like shit. Why are you here? What did you even expect?" his voice was rough and his speech slightly slow, but the words weren't terribly slurred in his opinion.

To that, the man raised an eyebrow and answered: "I expected you to feel better. You don't seem to remember anything from the last times you woke up, so we are back to square one." 

The man had sat onto the bed, requiring Tony to change the position of his head enough to see him clearly. He got most of the picture, but some of it was obscured due to the fact that he wasn't sitting up.

Tony had only been paying attention to the size of his visual field at the moment, so he barely caught the fact that Strange had begun to speak.  
It would be unfortunate to discover that if the sorcerer truly had malicious plans with him, he had missed the evil monologue by thinking too much about how much he could see.

"-ter some minor research on the subject of shapeshi-" the voice faded into the background as he closed his eyes. Upon realizing what he had done, Tony forced his eyes open once again.

"Based on that same research, I have concluded that you're not of magical origin and the only evil you could possibly create is limited by the fact that you are a human with the magical abilities of a squirrel."

"I'm going to take that as an insult but also, thanks. A+ for creativity."

He might have continued his commentary if not for the glare he got, even if it seemed more annoyed than anything else.

"You were an immaterial being in this universe until I cast a spell that bound you to the physical world or as you would say, I gave you a body. This made you sick since you had been hurt before you came here," he sighed, "It would be nice if you didn't have any bad intentions and were willing to talk about your world. I hope you don't hate me too much for screaming into your face while your body was starting to give out on you."

Tony shrugged at that, even if it looked like he was just squirming around on his bed because he hadn't sat up yet. 

"Do you want me to talk more or do you want me to leave?"

"Leave," said Tony, his dry throat causing his voice to crack in the middle.

Strange slowly stood up from the bedside he had been sitting on for the past 10 minutes and walked out the door, leaving Tony alone again.

It was still uncomfortable but didn't remind him of the ship that much anymore. There was someone else here. He could contact other people. There might be a way out if Stephen wasn't faking and instead was planning to do a little more invasive studies on him and how he managed to cross universes.

All this thinking was good at first but after the talk with Strange, the emotions and thought seemed to pile up in his very brain, infecting him with suspicion and doubt.

He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.


	5. Staying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has been spending some time in this world already, but he didn't expect to have someone knocking on his door.

He had woken up again, he had been visited by multiple people and a few scans had been done.

Tony was no longer as weak as he had been quite a few days ago, but he was still recovering from his time on the spaceship. He was up and walking but he still felt weak and couldn't stay like that for the whole day.

AlterStark and his family had been there briefly as well. They told him about everything that had happened in this world after Alter chose a different path than he had done. 

It was informative, but seeing Pepper and Peter being happier than he had ever seen them around himself, hurt quite a bit.

He should have never become Iron Man in the first place.  
Everything would have been better, for him, for the people around him and for the world. They were all happier here, without him playing hero and fucking everything up in the process.

There had never been an Ultron here to destroy a city, no civilian superhero sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

Tony shook himself out of his thoughts and got out of bed.  
He had been given a guest bedroom while Strange, Thor, Banner and anyone else that could be of help was trying to understand the mysterious way he had appeared in this world and how to send him back.

His clothes were quite loose, as some of them had once belonged to Alter, who had donated some of his garments before they could go shopping and find him some more fitting ones.

This world was great but he couldn't help but worry for the other people in his world. There was no telling how much time had passed, if any. He worried for the remainder of living beings there. Tony didn't know how many Avengers had survived the snap and if they were even thinking about looking for him. Even if they did locate the ship by the distress signal he had somehow cobbled together, there would be nobody but Nebula to save.

Maybe that was for the better.

While he was drinking coffee, he heard a hesitant knock on his door.

He walked to the door, still holding the cup in his hands. He opened it and saw that on the other side of it was Peter.

Tony still felt the small tinge of pain when he saw him, but he brushed it off and asked: "Hey. What are you doing here? Not that I mind, but still, a little odd of you to drop in."

The boy entered the room hesitantly and closed the door behind him. 

"I'm really sorry to bother you, Mr. Stark, it's just, uh. I shouldn't have come here, this was a bad idea, sorry, bye, I won't bother you anymore," he stuttered and started moving back towards the door. He seemed afraid, but not of Tony or any other material object.

The other man stopped him before he could, though.   
"Wait. You're obviously not okay. I know your father nor mother are currently here. I'm definitely a terrible substitution for them, but if you need to talk, I'm here for you," said Tony, trying to seem as sincere as he possibly could.

A stray tear welled in Peter's eye and rolled down his cheek. He wiped it away almost instantly, but more was about to come.

Tony soon had a sobbing teenager sitting on his couch and he was trying to talk through the tears. He didn't understand everything the kid had said, but he knew that it would help Peter if he was just there to listen to him.

He only got fragments of the thing the kid had spoken, but the genius thought he got at least somewhat clear picture of what had driven him to tears.

There had been an attack. His uncle had been there with Peter. Someone with whips had been the offender?   
He, his uncle, his soon-to-be father, and several others had gotten stuck after both sides of the hallway they were in had collapsed.   
The Avengers had helped, yet they had arrived hours after the initial attack had taken place.  
The hallway broke down further and Ben fell under the rubble while some of the others, who had stayed on the opposite side, stayed alive.

"I'm really sorry Mr. Tony. I didn't want to bother you at all but sometimes things just remind me of everything that happened half a year ago and it's just so horrible and I can't control it no matter how much I want to be able to just move on from what happened," the boy rambled after the sobbing had calmed down a bit.

Tony felt sorrow for Peter, he wanted nothing more than to be able to support him more, to be able to hug him like his son and tell him that for now, everything is okay.   
This Peter wasn't his son though, so he couldn't offer any physical comfort outside of a rather awkward shoulder pat.

He didn't know what to say to the teen's ramble, yet he tried to comfort him: "Don't be sorry for that. Don't be sorry for feeling what you feel," he swallowed and then continued in a little bit deeper, darker tone, "I used to think like you do right now. I felt like control was slipping farther and farther away from me every time something reminded me of the thing I had been through. I thought I was weak for not being able to just take it and move on. It took a long time for me to accept everything and I'm still trying to get better, even if I won't be able to be like I used to be."

A silence fell between them, only Peter's quiet sniffles could be heard every now and then.

After a while, Peter whispered: "You told us you were a superhero in your world. I want to ask you something."

"That's a drastic subject change, but okay, ask away."

New tears threatened to form in the teen's eyes once more, but he blinked them back and said: "For a while, I blamed the Avengers, the aliens and everyone else involved with the alien attack. I used to live with both my aunt and uncle, but my aunt... s-she died then. I wonder if something would have changed if you had just been a hero here," his face scrunched up in sadness as he stuttered, "I w-wonder if you could have st-stopped the nuke."


	6. Thinking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More information is being unveiled the longer he stays and that requires some thinking.

That threw Tony off and he asked, voice quivering a bit: "W-what do you mean, stop the nuke?"

The boy clenched his fists as he grabbed the cover of the couch and lowered his already hunched head even lower as he stared at the ground intently.

"Why is it even important? You weren't there, you couldn't have saved my aunt even if you had been there," he muttered, tears welling up in his eyes once more, but he blinked them away to prevent himself from further embarrassment. He had already cried in front of a virtual stranger, there was no need for anything more.

On that moment, Tony understood that the teen didn't want to discuss that subject anymore, so he decided against pressing on the issue.

They sat in silence until suddenly Peter stood and left without saying a word. Before the man could say something though, he had exited through the door and had left only unanswered questions hanging in his place.

Tony was alone once more and was even more conflicted that he had been before the teen's visit.

Before, he thought that his involvement as Iron Man had been the thing that had prevented him from gaining happiness and kept the world from getting a breather from the consequences of his mistakes.

Now, with this new information, he didn't know if this world was that much better from his own. Sure, there hadn't been an Ultron or the Snap, but an alien invasion had been stopped using nuclear weapons, something his world had luckily averted. 

If he can get back into his own universe, would quitting Iron Man be just the thing that the world needed?  
Was that the thing standing between him and happiness?

He knew that he would have to quit eventually, perhaps even sooner than he would have expected since he was no longer a young man and wanted some peace in the hectic world that he lived in.

One thing was certain - he had to get to know more about this world to evaluate it properly and objectively. AlterStark had given him some info, but he didn't say anything that he hadn't been a part of. Tony didn't have to look for things Alter had done, he had to search for everything that hadn't been done.

With new determination, he sat in front of the computer he had been given and started his research.

______________________

Tony was deep in data when he heard a familiar knock on the door.

Even though he trusted the people he had met here, there was no reason they should know about his little pet project, so he closed all windows, leaving only a harmless youtube video with adorable cats doing dumb things.

"Come in!" he shouted, already knowing who was behind the door. Stephen had an odd, distinct way of knocking, there was no way of determining what may have caused it - the accident or just a habit.

The sorcerer glided in with his usual elegance, the cloak making him even more regal.

"Hello, Stark. I see you have made yourself comfortable," he smirked when he noticed the video that was currently on the screen.

Trying to not cause any suspicion, he loosened up a bit and answered in a carefree manner: "What can I say, I like cats."

Strange raised an eyebrow at that but continued nevertheless: "We haven't gotten a lot further with the machine that would transport you back to your universe. It would be great if you could help us with it as I've heard that you are a mechanic as well."

"I don't see why not, seeing as it's my ticket home. Let me change into something more appropriate for labwork than a slightly too big t-shirt," he spoke, having already hopped off the chair he had been sitting on for nearly 3 hours. The sudden change in position sparked pain, but he suppressed it just enough for it to seem relatively minor.

Tony walked along the hallway with Stephen at his side, the doctor glancing at him every now and then, yet being disappointed every time he saw him, like he expected to see someone else entirely.

This was the Avengers Compound, in the same place it had been in his world but looking different than what he remembered. It looked more lived-in and homey than any Avenger living space he had seen.

Through the open doors, he saw costumed heroes he had never encountered and different versions of people he had known for years, all happier and almost oblivious to his existence. Sure, they probably knew that someone had arrived in their universe, but he wasn't anyone to them.

Then again, was he ever anyone to his Avengers?

Tony pushed the thought down; there were more important matters to address at the moment.

He marched on and tried his best to ignore any raised eyebrows coming his way. He could see his name forming on their lips, only to die a moment later when they saw who he actually was.

When the two men reached the labs, Tony was already done with all the people surrounding him, but he suppressed it to keep any of the people working on the machine from questioning him any further.

Since luck was not on his side, Alter was also there. Tony didn't like to see the personified version of everything he should and could have been, even if there was two tables separating them.

It wasn't Alter's fault, he seemed eager to work with him and waved encouragingly as soon as he saw the other man.   
Or he was waving at Strange. 

Tony dropped his hand and instead tried to look like he was waving at other-Bruce instead, someone he had talked to a few days ago and tolerated.


	7. Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony looks through data and has a talk with Alter.

Tony shifted his attention away from them and looked at the data the other scientists were currently working with. There weren't any blueprints drawn up, much less a prototype made, so data was all they had.

Most of them were scans of himself and the low energy he still carried around with him. Some of it could have been from Stephen's spell, but the rest was bound to be residual from the energy required to transport between worlds.

The energy signature seemed oddly familiar for some reason.

Then again, it could also be the deja vu he had ever since entering the room. He thought it was mostly due to the fact that he was once again working together with Bruce, something he hasn't done since the Hulk got thrown into space.

He didn't recognize most of the people working there nor did he deem it necessary to talk to anyone that he had known in his world. 

What was he even going to say?  
"Hey, remember me? Of course, you don't, we met in an alternate universe where we are the greatest pals! I'm kidding, you hate my guts!"

Tony's data analysis and inner angsty pondering were halted when he felt someone tap his shoulder. He almost dropped the tablet he had been holding but managed to catch it by hopping it around a few times before his fingers took hold of it.

He placed it on a nearby table and spun around to look at the person that had alerted him.

Unfortunately, it was Alter, offering him a slight smile in all of his happy and oblivious glory.

"Hi, Stark," he began, "What do you think of the project so far?"

He was about to spit out a scathing remark, but then stopped and thought about it for a short moment. Alter was only trying to help, there was no need for his grumpiness to ruin any of the good things. He didn't know these people, not really, so the only way to play it safe was to play it nice.

"I haven't had the time to look through all of it since there is a lot of things to look over. Are there any more ideas on how to get me back or are there just mountains of data?"

The other one's smile fell a bit and he said: "Right now, just data. It has been such a short time for us to gather and analyze everything, so no, nothing other than that," he clasped his hands together and asked in an awkward manner, "Sorry if this seems weird, but it's so odd to see myself looking at me, even though I know you are not me."

To that, Tony's fake smirk stretched into a slight, but real smile and he confessed: "Trust me, it's confusing for me too. Makes me think if my beard is really that stupid-looking or is it just you."

Alter burst into laughter and snarked: "Hey, if one of us has to have a stupid-looking beard, it's definitely you. Those edges could stab people if you aren't careful enough!"

The moment Alter mentioned stabbing, he remembered the brutal, nearly fatal blow the Titan had dealt him on the madman's home planet and his hand moved to his side to grip the area of the still-healing wound.

Bad move.  
The injury sparked pain through his midsection, nearly making him curl into a ball to relieve the pain that felt as if he had been stabbed again but this with tiny needles added to the bunch.

Tony took a quivering breath to smother the gasp of pain trying to burst out of his mouth. He hoped that his counterpart hadn't noticed what had happened but a glance at him revealed his worried face.

"You clearly aren't healed enough to help us right now. We are lucky that the machine isn't being built yet, you could have been in a lot of pain or torn your stitches. What did we even expect? You are me and I would also have tried to hide my injuries. Well, not now but in the past, yes," he rambled, trying to calm down both himself and Tony.

By then, Tony had recovered enough that he no longer wanted to cry, so his mind was clear from the haze of pain. He needed to get home and he needed information. He could get both if he continued to work on this project.

Tony tried to change Alter's mind on the subject: "I'm okay, you don't have to worry about me. It was just a little twinge, caught me by surprise. I'm happy to continue working on this project."

Alter didn't seem too convinced by this but he said: "Alright. You can stay and work. Tomorrow. I can see that you are a tad overwhelmed by this whole thing," he took the tablet that Tony had placed on the table and handed it to him, "Here, take this. Even if you can't work today, maybe not even tomorrow, you still need some data. Maybe you will see something that we have missed."

That was something Tony hadn't expected. He didn't take the tablet, though. Alter was staring at him expectantly, hand outstretched in front of him just to give him a tablet. 

But Tony couldn't take the tablet. Finally, the other one seemed to get the cue and he placed it back onto the table and moving out of the way so he could pick it up.

He took the tablet and retreated out of the lab. He had memorized the walk here, so he set his course towards his room.

He could hear Alter call for him from the room, but it didn't register for him. 

Tony walked until he reached his living quarters, dragged his feet towards the bed and flopped down on it, still being mindful of the tablet currently wrapped in his arms, full of all of the necessary data.

At least now he knew where to continue with collecting information.


	8. Searching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has data. Tony goes through data and does what he does - thinking.

Tony took a more thorough look at the contents of the tablet when he was no longer faceplanted on the mattress. 

There didn't seem to be much use of what he had, though. He didn't find any more interesting things than he had on his first time looking through it.

Apart from a few notes from Strange, it was energy readings and random bits of info that may be of use.

If further progress was going to be in a speed similar to this, he would get home in a long time, if ever. 

Tony couldn't just leave it like this. This was his fate and it was in his own hands. 

If he was temporarily benched from the project, he was going to make his own. He must resume data collection and then determine the best course of action.

This machine project was bigger than him, therefore, he can't invent himself out of this mess alone. Maybe this was the time he should let someone else take the lead and help him for once.

Meanwhile, he could get his own objective, a backup plan when something went to shit.

The mechanic put down the tablet and sat in front of the computer once more to start his search again.

What he had previously found had only solidified his theory that this world was separated from his own by the choices Tony Stark had made all these years ago, choosing to turn his back to Iron Man and keep living like a regular person.

They were all unaware of the consequences this action had brought with it.

Of course, Obie had been defeated with the armor, so nothing happened there. Vanko had no initial hatred for Iron Man and only chose to attack when the second arc reactor prototype had been revealed. 

The first one had been destroyed by the nuke that in his world, had been meant for New York. Nobody had been there to reroute it into the portal to destroy the mothership.

Ultron hadn't had a chance to wreak havoc on the world this time around as the scepter never got access to the technology necessary to wake the dormant intelligence inside of the gem, much less access a broken, yet powerful Iron Legion suit.

There weren't many news articles about the Mandarin, yet he had existed here. Just in a different way than before, in a more dangerous and successful one.

Tony knew he wasn't all-powerful, yet he couldn't help but wonder if he could have prevented the situations that had happened. 

Probably not, but it was clear that the Avengers of this world hadn't been slacking when they recruited new people. It was logical, in a way. 

If he wasn't there, someone else would have filled the place as a hero.

He no longer knew which world was better. 

After a couple of hours of searching, some mysteries got their answers yet the ones left unsolved seemed more severe than before.

How did they manage to defeat Thanos, when his homeworld had failed? 

Was it better that he had never become a hero or was flying around in a metal superhero suit beneficial for the world?

Most of this world hadn't even noticed that something had happened and had resumed their ordinary lives without having to worry about the aliens attacking again.

If he found a way to return into his universe and be able to get out of the spaceship he was previously drifting through space in, some additional info on the Titan wouldn't hurt.

Right now, he could think of two ways to retrieve the information on Thanos: hacking into their security cameras and hoping that anyone had talked about it in front of them, or just, ya know, asking them.

Tony didn't want to ask them about the Titan. It would be weird, but if he acted it right, they would think that he is simply curious or trying to compare universes. Nothing bad would probably happen, but he was a little iffy about the people here.

Getting the camera feeds was going to be a little difficult, not to mention, morally questionable.

He knew that Alter has good tech, unquestionably on par with his own, so unless he was going to rely on the fact that he would be able to bypass the security because he's Tony Stark, he was doomed.

The mechanic clenched his fists in anger and desperation. 

Even if he got home, there was no guarantee that he would return at the moment he had left. Maybe the Snap couldn't be undone and his world would remain with half of its population disappeared into nothingness.

He may have been on Titan with no way of knowing if the dusting had taken place everywhere else as well, he didn't know who had died, but he still mourned the ones that did.

Half the life, gone in an instant. And as this world had shown him, it was his choices that led to that.

Tony knew he was getting too deep into the thoughts, so he took a few deep breaths to calm himself and forced himself to think about something else.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite work. The moment he diverted his thoughts, they turned around and went back where he started, making him even more frustrated than before.  
He tried closing his eyes, but all he achieved was seeing the events in his mind extremely vividly.

Tony was the Mechanic, he had to do something. Something outside self-loathing and snooping after people. Something that would help him or at least give him the illusion of preparedness for the future.

He was Iron Man, he shouldn't think, feel or act like this.

Iron Man.

That's what he should do.


	9. Planning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Tony to start planning his new Iron Man suit

Tony stretched to prepare for the workload that was going to be his new project.

He started with the list of things he would need and how he could access them.

The materials could be acquired via the Machine project which he was a part of. Even during his short stay into the lab, he saw a few scientists who weren't part of the project working on a couple of other things. If there was no way to get the necessary things while he was trying to figure out the Machine, he could steal their scraps and start disassembling other electronics.

It wouldn't make a very advanced suit of armor, but it would provide him with protection and if he got his hands on some more powerful weapons, a serious amount of firepower.

Assembly could also be done under the guise of working on the Machine and if that failed, he could steal power tools and do it in his own room. 

Again, it wouldn't make a great suit but it would be better than the one he made in Afganistan, probably better than anything before Mark VII if he had enough time and he didn't have to put the suit together while bent over the coffee table in his living room.

The coffee table reminded him that if he was going to continue with his planning, he was going to need coffee.

Still a little tingly and excited from his secret scheme, he jumped off the chair he had been sitting in and turned on the coffee machine.

Tony got multiple cups of the lifegiving liquid and set them next to the computer.

He sipped the beverage and smiled. Even if he got desperate with materials, the coffee machine would stay where it was. Its coffee was too good to die.

Designing could be done with ease, his electronics had been equipped with hologram technology. Luckily, there was no need to worry about fitting - the energy scans that he had been previously looking over also had all of his measurements. 

For what purpose, he didn't know and currently, he didn't care.

It would take a long time before he could start testing, but perhaps he could leave the building for that, take the suit with him to somewhere private.

Maybe someone could help him, but that was questionable at the moment. These people were still foreign to him and their helpfulness could be an act even though they hadn't displayed any malicious intent.

For now, Iron Man 2.0 had to be kept under wraps, his own secret once more.

He thought a bit about the nanites. They would be difficult to produce unnoticed and it would take a lot of testing and calibration before he could deem them battle-worthy. At most he could have them as an emergency option or a possible weapon on the actual armor.

Most of the design would depend on the materials, so it would make sense to survey what he had. Tomorrow, he would go back to the lab, talk to people, see their progress and think up the best way to access the leftover scraps, basic tools and perhaps the actual things and production devices used for the Machine.

He could start the collection by tearing open the weird juicer that he had found in one of the cupboards. The only thing that made it special was the electronics inside of it, namely the hologram display. If he didn't find anything else, it would have to do for a basic HUD.

It felt weird, working on the armor plans again. Even though it had been just a short while, life had changed so much for him.

And now he was back in the beginning, ready to build a superhero suit in secret, just this time he was alone with nobody he could truly trust.

If there was nobody, he could always trust himself and his hands to help him deal with the situation.

It was hilarious, someone like him relying on gut instinct to survive but it was true. When he was around certain people, alarm bells went off in his head even when he tried to stay as polite and cooperative as possible.

For a moment, he abandoned the project, grabbed a pen and a piece of paper.

Tony made a list of people and the way he felt about them in this universe.  
Something in him told him to write it on paper, to get the words and his opinions out in the purest way possible at the moment.

After he was done, he read the first names on the list again.

Alter - Possibly trustworthy, need to gain trust beforehand

Peter P - Trustworthy

StrangerStrange (AlterStephen?) - DO NOT TRUST


	10. Caution

Tony didn't know why he decided that he can't trust some of the people here. It seemed silly to completely exclude people.

Strange, for instance, hadn't done anything directly harmful to him and any of the hurt he caused was out of lack of information.   
He wasn't bad and sometimes he seemed fine to him, even similar to his universe's Stephen. At first, when they met and Stephen threatened the fuck out of him, he seemed as normal as a sorcerer could be.

But then, a couple days later, Tony looked at him and he got a gut feeling that Strange wasn't up to any good. It didn't make sense, but just to be sure, he thought that it would be better if Strange didn't know about the armor he was planning on building.

The other iffy people were the new heroes he had seen around and talked to a bit. Most of them seemed to think it was Alter talking to them instead of Tony, yet a few seemed off in the same way that Strange did.

Something was wrong here.

For now, it was better to be cautious.

Tony drank another cup of coffee and continued the planning for the Iron Man armor.  
It was late in the night or perhaps, early in the morning, when he finally succumbed to sleep and got off his chair to drop onto his bed in a zombie-like way.

_______________

Tony awoke to the light of the sun shining in his face.

He pressed his eyes closed a little tighter. If the spaceship had activated and was already this close to bringing its crew of 2 people to their doom via throwing them into a star, so be it.  
There was nothing to be done anyway.

He waited a little longer. Not hearing Nebula or feeling the rising heat of impending doom, he opened his eyes.

Right. He wasn't on the spaceship, hadn't been there for a while.

Tony didn't know how he forgot that again. He was in another universe and currently trying to get home and was building an armor as a side quest.

He sat up on his bed and stretched thoroughly before throwing off the covers and getting off the bed and standing up.

Fuck, he was tired. He had pulled allnighters with minimal problems just a couple of weeks ago but staying up until 3 am was apparently now a problem.

He had either suddenly gotten old or he was just unlucky with sleep today.

Tony took the cups he had used on the previous day and washed them, something he forgot to do before heading to bed. There was no way he was just going to take a new cup and leave all the other ones hanging there to eventually get moldy.

Was he?

No, he wasn't. He was now Responsible and since he had gotten a great idea after being completely hopeless less than a week ago, he was in at least a pleasant mood, so he washed the cups and put one of them under the coffee machine.

He had to give Alter's universe some credit, though. He had some sweet coffee machines that made amazing coffee.

Armed with the lifegiving liquid, he continued his work on the armor. 

After working a bit, he realized that there wasn't much else to be done that wouldn't be pure speculation. The materials were unknown, so to carry on, he had to go and get some.

He could disassemble a machine with a random object, but for some finer work, he needed tools. 

So, to get both, he put on some more acceptable clothes, grabbed the tablet with the data and walked out towards the labs the Machine was being planned.

Before he could get there though, a young man that had previously been walking idly in the opposite direction as him, noticed and approached him.

"Hey, Tony. What are you doing here?" he said, a confused look on his face. It didn't seem just confused, more like a kid that was afraid to be caught doing things they shouldn't by their parents.

Tony looked into his eyes and recognized him as another one of the people on the list with "DO NOT TRUST" after their descriptions. As he expected, he got a bad feeling when he saw him.

"Hi. I'm just going to the lab," he said mildly. There was no way for him to know how to interact with that person, so he played the safest way of just telling the truth.

The man seemed a little nervous, even twitchy, but his voice was as even as Tony's had been: "Oh, that's great. I was just surprised to see you. I thought you were going to a meeting," he seemed a little angry at him, but it didn't bleed into his perfectly even tone.

The conversation was getting rather awkward, so he said bye to the man and went into the lab like he had told him.

When he was inside, he surveyed his surroundings.

Immediately, he noticed a 3D printer on the side and a metal can with tiny machine scraps inside it. The exposed circuitry seemed quite advanced, so if they weren't too damaged, there was at least something he could use.

"What's our status on figuring out the Machine?" he asked a nearby scientist sitting on a chair by the table nearest to Tony.

The scientist jumped in surprise and turned around and yet again, was confused to see Tony.

"Mr.Stark. I thought you would be in-" he started, only to be cut off.

"Yeah, yeah, in a meeting. I'm not your Tony, I'm the one the Machine project is trying to send home," he interrupted, still a little annoyed by the previous interaction he had had.

He adjusted his glasses and when he spoke, he was no longer dumbfounded: " Well, in that case, you should take a look at the thoughts we have at the time. We have no solid plans yet, but we can start off by developing one of the ideas displayed here," he thrust a tablet in his direction, letting Tony have a look at its contents, "unless, of course, you have anything else to offer?"

"Not at the moment. Could you explain them to me more thoroughly? I can understand what you are going for here, but I need to know more details to have a solid opinion."

After he said that, the scientist's face lit up and he began excitedly explaining everything while Tony listened and scanned the room for anything that could be of use for his personal project.


	11. Working

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to get some materials for the suit.

When he was sure nobody was looking, Tony shoved a screwdriver into the large pockets of his cargo pants. They looked terrible, but desperate times meant desperate means and in this case, wearing baggy cargo pants that almost entirely concealed his ass. 

He couldn't risk taking too much, so the scraps taped to the inside of the pants and a few smaller tools would have to do for today. 

What he really hoped for was that Alter's JARVIS wouldn't report it to him and if he did, he could talk his way out of it. 

Trying to look as relaxed and unsuspicious as possible, he talked about the project with the scientists. Phase one of the Machine would be something to find the universe he had arrived from, perhaps even discover the pathway he went through.  
If the connection was still open or just partly closed, they could just try to tear a hole through spacetime and send him back, like throwing a marble through a pipe.

If not, there should be at least some traces of him traveling between universes, at least a ripple. 

Once they had enough data, they could work from there.

Parts of a scanning machine wouldn't be helpful for weaponizing the Iron Man, but they could work for detecting energy signatures, which alone wouldn't be very helpful but with tweaking could make up the majority of the system detecting and analyzing his environment.

He spent some time syncing his tablet with the computers in the lab, adding additional information there for him to think about later.

"Hey, Stark. We've been here for quite a while, you want me to get you something to eat from the cafeteria?" asked the scientist he had been working with for the past hour.

He had been so encompassed in the Machine and the Iron Man project that he had forgotten that his own body had needs too. Just now, he realized that his muscles were tired from sitting for hours and his lips were dry from lack of hydration. There was a coffee machine in the corner and multiple people had been in and out, coming in with at least a piece of toast or a cookie, but he hadn't thought of getting any of that for himself.

"Oh. Yeah, you could get me something. Choose what you like, I haven't been there before," he said nonchalantly, yet trying his best to keep a thankful edge to the uncaringness.

"You've been here for almost a week and you haven't been to the cafeteria? I'm not grabbing you anything, you come with me and I'm going to show you the best and the worst foods."

Surprisingly, Tony gave in to his hunger and followed the man to the cafeteria. 

The food wasn't as bad as he had expected, so he happily ate it in silence while the other dude did the same. If he remembered correctly, his name was Jacob, but he could be wrong. He could remember the number of steps it took to walk from the front door to the workshop back in his Malibu house, but he couldn't remember people's names.

After they had finished, they went back into the lab and worked some more.

_______

The door behind him closed and the moment he stepped deeper into his rooms, an AI voice sounded from the ceilings: "I'm sorry to interrupt, Anthony, but what are you going to do with the tools you stole from the lab? I haven't notified Sir yet, but unless you give a convincing and truthful answer, I will do so immediately."

Tony had been waiting for him to speak to him, so he knew that the best way was to tell the truth.

"I'm working on a private project and I'd like to keep it to myself for now," he said solemnly.

"Is it going to be a threat to anyone's life and safety?"

"Not unless they are a threat to my life and safety. JARVIS, I'm building another one of the Iron Man suits I have talked about to others."

The response seemed hesitant, even human-like: "Hmm. It seems illogical, but I'm going to let you continue. I won't monitor you or tell anyone anything unless you request me to do so."

Tony's eyes widened at that and he sputtered: "You're going to let me go? Just like that?"

"Yes. For now, that is. I'm not going to help you nor stop you."

"Thank you. Thank you so much," he said. It felt like he could breathe lighter once again. JARVIS had been the biggest obstacle he could think of, and with him neutral, he just had to be sneaky."

He took removed all the stolen items and delicately stuffed them into a drawer, but left a few wrenches and screwdrivers out. Then he used the tools to take apart the juicer. Wouldn't help much, but better that than nothing.

The Mechanic tweaked his suit designs a but based on the materials he had available and went to sleep. He had a busy day ahead, full of disassembling kitchen appliances and stealing scraps.

______________________

Tony was woken by the sound of his door being opened.

Since he had arrived here, everyone had respected his privacy and hadn't arrived without at least knocking.

He got up silently and grabbed the nearby wrench, just in case.

Tony crept into the other room, vary to not make any sound whilst doing so, wrench held tightly in his hand. 

The light filtering through the open door from the hallway was intercepted by a tall figure. The figure suddenly shone a light into the room and Tony ducked behind a nearby armchair.

The mystery person started walking deeper into his current living space but stopped right before the armchair he was hiding behind.

His palms were sweaty, but what made his stomach truly drop was the sounds of a familiar voice whispering: "I don't think that Stark is up to anything. I don't dare to go deeper right now, there's no need to wake him up," he paused and then continued, "Yes, I understand, but you must know, when a Stark is working on something, they won't know how to hide it properly."

He turned around and stepped closer to the door leading to the hallway.

Before exiting, though, he stopped and spoke once more: "I will keep an eye on him. I won't fail you, Maw."

When the door finally closed, Tony released the breath he had been holding. He had been lucky that he didn't keep the stolen parts and tools in the first room or even out in the open. It had been the right decision to hold his current actions a complete secret from everyone. 

From now on, he should operate with extreme caution.

There was still one question that worried him - why was the man that had broken into his current living space working with Maw?


	12. Sleeplessness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is nervous after what happened and cannot sleep.

He couldn't sleep.

Tony didn't dare to block the door or set any traps to alert him because if he was discovered, there wouldn't be any guarantee that he would be okay.

There was no reason for him to come back, but even after 2 hours, he was unable to shake the uneasy feeling. He clutched his blanket and wrapped it tighter around himself.

How was Tony going to look him in the eye when he knew what he had done and who he was working with. 

Maw had died in his universe after Peter's plan worked and he was thrown into space. He knew that the way they beat Thanos seemed too simplistic for his liking. They did tell the way they won but failed to mention that the Titan's loyal allies were still around, and by the sound of it, recruiting more people to whatever cause they were now fighting for. 

Tony couldn't allow that.

The Iron Man project should either be halted or sped up, yet maintaining complete secrecy. Yet a small, hopeful part of him pressured him to tell someone, anyone at all about what he was doing, what he was creating to protect himself and the people around him. 

But he couldn't do it. They would disapprove of his methods and tell him he was paranoid and trying to kill people.

To try to divert his thoughts, he got up from the embrace of the blankets and took the tablet from the table that also held his computer.

With a tap, the light illuminated the room which made him squint his eyes to protect them from the unexpected brightness. After he had turned it down a bit, he could better see the contents of it.

He had set it to sync with the main computers, like everyone else. but as it was night, nothing new had been added. He scrolled through everything they had planned, put a couple of pointers and ideas on the side of a couple of rudimentary sketches of the components and then felt his mind come to a halt. 

He didn't know what else to add to it. This was beyond him. He wasn't an expert on that, even if he knew the basics of wormholes inside universes, the physics of gateways between universes was entirely foreign to him, as it was to everyone. Tony's way home was a science experiment, there was an unknown risk of him dying.

It wasn't going to stop him from trying, though. 

His eyes were starting to droop after a while and soon, the tablet slammed him on the face.

Startled and hurt by it, he jumped so the tablet fell off the bed with a loud thud.

After scrambling in the darkness for it and accidentally reaching way too far, he joined the electronics by dropping off the bed, making slightly more sound than the thin panel of glass, metal, and plastic that came before him.

When he opened his eyes, the annoying piece of machinery was right in front of him, as if mocking him for his failures.

Still a little shaken from it, he grasped the tablet but accidentally closed the right app and managed to open quite a few unnecessary ones in the process. He got into a more comfortable position and begun to close all of them.

Calendar, gone; completely empty gallery, gone; camera. When he got to the camera app, he got an idea. What had his intruder been doing prior to that? Was there a way to pinpoint the time when he started working for a member of the Black Order?

He could try to hack the cameras or at least ask JARVIS to hack them for him if he cooperated. This time, he had a reason for it. That man, who he thought was an ally, broke into his private area and snooped around.

"Hey, JARVIS," he spoke to the ceiling, knowing that the AI would answer even if he wasn't allowed to monitor the area.

"Yes, Anthony. What is it?" replied a neutral voice.

"Someone broke into here. They were acting slightly off, so I wanted to ask you if there was anything different about him."

There was a short pause and then JARVIS spoke again: "Indeed, there have been oddities that I've observed. When I pointed them out to Sir, he brushed it off and said it was just exhaustion and trauma from the battle against Thanos, but I beg to differ. Something happened over there and I think you should see these videos to decide whether to believe me or not."

As he said it, the hologram function of the tablet was activated and a clip was displayed. Tony took the earbuds from the side of it to hear it clearer.

What he saw shouldn't have been surprising, but it still shocked him a bit.  
The first video was just a day after Tony had arrived in this universe and it seemed that he was fighting back against the Order. Around others, he seemed normal, but it looked like there was a constant war brewing inside of him.

The next day, he was calm once more, acting like he usually does, yet whispering to an unheard and unseen person every time he was completely alone. His private rooms were off limits for JARVIS, but if that's what he had been doing outside of them, there was no telling what he could do next.

After he had finished, Tony took out the earbuds and said: "I believe you, JARVIS, even if your creator doesn't. That man has to be stopped before something else happens."

"I agree," said the AI.

Tony watched as the man on the video swished his cloak and reported to Maw once again and he saw it as a challenge. There was another mission for him, another project.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I think you have already figured out the mysterious man who broke into Tony's room but I like to pretend its a secret for now so maybe next time.


	13. Building

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Planning is over, it's time for him to build the Iron Man suit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have absolutely no idea how an universe-traveling machine should work, so pardon my babbles

Tony smiled as he took another mysterious package from the bottom of the armchair in the lab, unnoticed due to everyone eating in the cafeteria. After the incident with the break-in, the AI had agreed to help him.

Yesterday's package had been delivered just a bit before midnight, almost making it today's gift, placed right in front of his room. He didn't know how JARVIS managed to get it there, but he wasn't complaining.

He made his way to his living area and swiftly hid it into a cupboard and made his way to the cafeteria. He clutched the tablet, which had displayed the whereabouts of people just a moment ago but now was completely blank to refrain anyone from peeking at it and figuring out what he was doing.

"Hey, Bruce," he said to the curly-haired man sitting by the table nearest to him, "mind if I join you?"

He looked up and a slight smile appeared on his face as he replied: "Not at all, Mr. Stark."

Tony placed his tablet onto the table, went to get some food for himself and returned to the scientist right after that.

"So," he muttered while stabbing his salad leaves with his fork, "do you think we will manage to get the Machine done within the year?"

Bruce was currently chewing on his food so he waited a bit before answering: "I'm pretty sure in a year this universe will be a memory to you. Judging by the speed we are progressing right now, we should be done in a couple of months."

Tony stopped his salad stabbing and tried to say nonchalantly: "What if we won't be?"

To that, the scientist frowned. "Then you will just stay here a little longer, we don't mind. You're a good guy to work with, even if you aren't the cheerful Tony Stark I expect to meet when I see you," he gave a soft smile, "It's nice in a way. You're your own person, a new acquaintance for us to engage with."

They sat in silence afterward and when their food was finished, they walked back to the working area and continued, as they had for the past week.

Today, they were working on the part that would essentially be a pointer for energy - through that, they would release it, break spacetime and stab a tiny hole through a universe. The pointer would be surrounded with another circle of energy releases which would once again shoot the energy, the circles would be repeated until the last one would be covered in stoppers that would create a forcefield to keep the rip from spreading further.

The forcefield would need some work, but the prototype for the pointers could be started right now.

Tony fiddled with some parts, which he stuffed into his pants pockets and 3D printed a couple of details, both for the Machine and himself. He was supposed to just be overlooking it, having assigned an easier job to prevent any unforeseen consequences. 

What they didn't know was that he had aimed for the 3D printer in the first place. The last package JARVIS had sent had multiple metal details and necessary wires, yet it lacked the more specific parts which he needed to attend to personally. 

With the AI working with him, there was a chance he might be able to produce a small amount of less sophisticated nanites not unlike the mark L.

When the work was done for the day and everyone was leaving, Tony went to his rooms, emptied his pockets and reached into the cupboard to get hold of the package.

It was a simple box, wrapped into brown paper like a mundane package, nothing that caught the eye. 

The mechanic tore open the paper and opened the box inside to find a tiny trapezius-shaped glowing object. Tony whooped silently because that miniature piece of what was essentially glowing wire, was actually the element necessary for an arc reactor to run on. He didn't know how the AI had gotten a hold of that, but he was grateful nevertheless. 

Leaving it inside its protective glass container, he observed the other materials in the box. It wasn't as much as last time due to the arc reactor core element's rather big casing, but there was enough to continue building.

He opened the seemingly harmless and unopenable poufs at the foot of the bed and took out the basic framework for a gauntlet. Today it was time to finally add the repulsor part of it, making it an actual weapon rather than an exoskeleton that would support and strengthen his arm.

There was no way he was testing it here, there wasn't even any reliable source of power outside of the power cables that let some of his tools even work. It would be tedious to fix it or cobble together a backup generator, which wouldn't give off nearly as much energy as he could mooch off the power grid.

Slowly, Tony descended completely into the zone, the only thing missing was his blaring music and an actual lab, but this was a great substitute for that. 

The repulsor part of the gauntlet was coming along nicely and was soon to be completed, while the outer layer was still a framework, leaving his skin exposed from attacks. He still had to think about the kind of a weapon he could attach to the upper part of it. There was no way JARVIS could smuggle him missiles, so perhaps a laser or a blade would have to do for now.

While he was working, he didn't hear a nervous knock on the door which was repeated for a couple of times. After the fourth time, a hesitant man opened the door slowly, as if trying to avoid any attention on him. 

He sneaked farther into the room, still unnoticed by Tony, yet he wouldn't stay hidden much longer. He stubbed his toe on the corner of an armchair, the same one the genius had cowered behind just a couple of night ago.

The sound of that alerted the man in question and instinctively, he dropped his tools and put on the gauntlet. He attached a cord coming from it to an extension cord which he plugged into the wall.

Hand raised, ready to attack, he marched into the room.

When he saw the one that had entered, he yelped: "PETER?"

A similarly baffled voice answered him: "Mr. Stark?"


	14. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has discovered Tony's secret project - building the Iron Man

Tony lowered the gauntlet he had previously pointed at Peter and felt shame, embarrassment, and desperation settle in.  
The boy would figure what he was planning, maybe he had already concluded what he was doing.

"Is that a weapon? Why do you have a weapon?" he asked before clapping his hands onto his mouth to keep anything else from getting out. He feared if he spoke anything else, Tony would attack him to make him keep his silence.

The man raised the hand not encased in a gauntlet to show he meant no harm and he pleaded: "Please don't run, don't go, I will explain everything but you have to stay quiet about it. I won't attack you, I never would, just listen to me."

When the boy nodded and showed no sign of trying to escape, he disconnected the cord between the repulsor and the power source and tried to take it off. Since he had just shoved his arm into it, it was quite the challenge, but eventually, he managed it without breaking the still-fragile framework that he had just built around it.

When he was done, he placed it onto a table and motioned Peter to sit onto the armchair while he sat to the one opposite of him.

Forcing himself to smile, he asked: "So, what do you want to know?"

He was still in shock, eyes widened and hands clenched around the armrests, the nails threatening to dig in and breaking the fabric of the covering. He sat straight up like he was accused of a crime, still afraid that Tony was going to hurt him even after the barely-assembled gauntlet had been placed elsewhere.

Peter's voice wavered as he enquired: "What are you building?"

"You remember what I said about Iron Man?" when he saw the boy nod, he continued, "Yeah, I'm making an Iron Man armor and before you ask why, I wanted to be safe. Not that you people make me afraid but I don't trust everyone here, not to mention that I don't know what could be lurking around the corner," Tony tugged on a stray thread on his t-shirt and then stared Alter's son right into the eyes, "To be honest, I'm not just scared, I'm terrified of everything in this world even if everyone tells me its okay."

"How are you even building it? Where did you get the materials?" the boy was getting a little bit more free in the questioning now that he was a tad more certain that he wasn't going to be blasted against the wall or violently murdered.

Tony spread his arms and spoke: "You're not going to approve of this but I either stole the materials or disassembled electronics for the parts, which was both tedious and made me feel a bit guilty," he paused a bit and then said upon remembering, "Oh, and I stole the tools as well."

Peter released the death grip he had had on the armrests and hugged himself and stared at the ground while saying: " I don't know if I can keep this a secret. You could be a threat to us, no matter what you say. I want to trust you, I really do, but if I don't know what you're doing I have to tell my dad about it."

This was not going Tony's way at all. He knew it was wrong, but he needed to keep it a secret from others, especially if the Black Order's servants were slinking around, some of them even snooping in his things.

"If you're going to tell your dad, could you bring him here so I could explain everything to him. I know I'm not in the place to make requests of any kind, but that's the one thing I'm asking of you."

Peter got up from the chair, making Tony's heart sink. The boy was truly going to do it, expose his project when it hadn't even properly begun and while he was at it, he could possibly babble it out to all the people working for the Order.   
He had trusted that boy, but it turned out it had been the wrong thing to do.

But he didn't go towards the door at all. Instead, the teen walked to the fridge, took his orange juice and took a big, long sip of it before calmly putting back and facing Tony.

Out of nowhere, he exclaimed: "HOLY FUCK! That project is amazing!" his previously shocked and dull eyes light up with excitement.

Tony's mouth fell open. He thought he was toast and he had already started his plan of escaping onto a farm and living there until his universe came to collect him or until he died. 

In a small yet hopeful voice, he asked: "So you're not going to tell your father?"

The first words squandered his hopes immediately: "I'm going to tell him," said Peter nonchalantly, "but not yet."

He sensed something coming his way, but he didn't know what. There were so many possibilities with teenagers, they were completely unpredictable.

"Okay, I know you're probably going to say no, but could I please work with you on this?"

Once again, Tony found his mouth hanging open but he shut it quickly to say: "You want to work on a weapon with me? Because as you said before, this is a weapon, no matter if it protects or attacks."

It seemed like he was having second thoughts, but he quickly shot back: "Well, I don't have to work on the weapon parts of it. Maybe I could help with the exoskeleton or help make the joints, circuits and other things?"

He realized that there was no way he was going to win on that, not to mention that Peter had the deadliest puppy eyes he had ever seen, so there was no way for him to resist his pleas.

"Fine, I'm going to let you work with me. Only harmless things. If your father finds out, I'm going to blame you and your ultimatums," he felt like a dad at that time. An exhausted dad but the one that loves his son and would do anything for him. This was no time to find substitutes to kind of his own son who had turned to dust.

If the teen could smile and shine any brighter, he would have become an actual sun, because he was dumbstruck and clearly idolizing Tony.

"Can we start now?" a hopeful voice sounded from the shining ray of sun that was Peter.

Tony shrugged. "I don't see why not. It may be a bit dangerous and I only have minimal protective gear and that too for only one person, but I can go without."

So, he handed Peter the protective glasses and gloves and they got to work.


	15. Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter helps Tony tinker and is willing to get caught to get him the materials necessary.  
> Tony disagrees with him.

Luckily, Peter didn't need a lot of explanations regarding the work that they were doing, which at the moment was creating the framework for another gauntlet. It seemed that Alter was keen on taking his son into the workshop with him and teaching him the ins and outs of machinery, judging by the way Peter grasped the tools with a certain familiarity.

He was still baffled the teen had agreed to help him with the project, but he was grateful for that. The kid had good ideas and a sharp wit, not only helping him design the suit but also brought some laughter into his working area where there was usually only low music, just enough to let him focus better yet quiet enough to not alert anyone.

Their work was going swiftly and soon the framework was complete, but they now had another problem: they had used most of their materials. 

JARVIS's packages had been just small enough to be hidden and there were only so many he could sneak through. He didn't even know how the AI managed to get them in as he lacked a physical body, so he was either using robots or a very confused delivery guy had to put them into hiding spots.

He could only get tiny scraps and a few 3D printed details every time he went into the lab and with people wanting to interact with him it was harder to slip by unnoticed. Also, the cargo pants were ridiculously unfashionable and he hated them even if they had great pockets to hide things into.

He tried the framework on one more time to be completely sure that it fits correctly and then said: "Well, that's it, kid."

"What do you mean, Mr. Stark?" asked Peter, his eyebrows knitting together.

"I'm out of materials, we can't build anything else until I get more and I can't do it right now because the moment I use my entrance card the action will be marked into the system the moment I use it and only works in the day, not when it's nearing midnight. Also, when it's that late, you should be asleep," with the last sentence he pointed towards the teen who pouted in return.

"But I can get you the things! My card works at all times and it's normal for me to be there late without anyone else. Sure, I'm usually there with Dad, but he lets me tinker there and it only alerts him when I'm there for a longer time than 2 hours."

Tony hated how eager the kid was to invent with him but he couldn't use him like that even if he desperately needed the materials.

"No, I'm not letting you steal for me. What if someone else is there and you get caught? I don't want you to get in trouble for helping me."

"But..." the kid tried to protest.

Tony interrupted him: "No buts! If something happens to me during this project, I'll own up to it. I can't take responsibility for your actions."

Peter pleaded once more, his puppy eyes growing bigger: "Then I'll take responsibility. It will be my choice!"

Tony was done with Peter trying to help him. Even if the boy wasn't a superhero, he was still stubborn as all hell and way too eager to aid people, even if it meant that he may suffer the consequences.

"No," he stated, there was no arguing this one, it was simple and sure, "You can come back to tinker with me once I have the materials."

Peter's hopeful face fell and he wrapped his arms around himself as he stared into the ground. 

"I'm sorry for bothering you, Mr. Stark. I'll come back when you can build more of the armor," with those words said, he turned around and shuffled out the door, leaving Tony behind without a goodbye.

He felt like a failure. All he could do was make people unhappy, extinguish the spark that lights up their eyes. Peter probably hates him, oh why couldn't he just say yes, keep the boy from feeling hatred and anger towards him.

Tony had planned on building the arc reactor, a power source he didn't think was something he should show Peter just yet, but the disappointment he had caused had turned his mood sour, so he threw the wrench that had been on the table into the sack of tools he had accumulated.

He stored all the machinery in a closet and locked it, but left a gauntlet in arms reach for him to protect himself.

At the moment, he didn't want to have anything to do with the Machine, so he left the tablet where it was and hopped into the bed, trying to sleep through the guilt he felt. 

It wasn't going well, the negative feelings churning in his gut and only reminding him of past failures. He tried to press his eyes closed tighter but that didn't help against the visions in his head.

Finally, the sweet embrace of sleep reached him and he could rest.

When he woke up, the sun was shining in his face like every other day he forgot to close the blinds.

He had been in this world for quite a bit now. Strange to think that a little more than a week ago he had been stranded in space.

He tried to not think of what happened yesterday, so he just got dressed, grabbed the tablet and got ready to go to the lab when his shoe knocked against something when he had just stepped out the door. 

Next to his shoe was a small cardboard box that seemed to contain something slightly bigger than itself as the lid of it was dented outwards.  
Cautiously, he picked it up and inspected it.

A note was taped to the bottom of it, which he tore off and read: "I know you told me not to, but I did it anyway. Nobody saw me, don't worry. Peter."

Tony tried to smack his hand against his face to show his frustration, but only managed to slap himself with a tablet.

That kid was going to be the death of him in every universe.

He placed the box into another cupboard and headed out, not seeing the other note on the inside of the cupboard door, written in messy, shaky handwriting, desperation etched into the paper.

Tony reached the lab and forgot about everything else for the time being.


	16. Mindful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The content of the short note makes Tony push his current responsibilities aside and search for answers.

He was settling into a pretty solid routine - go to work on the Machine, collect the mystery box of the day, steal things, 3D print something out, build the armor, worry about being found out.

After he was done with today's Machine-building, he got back, was frustrated by Peter's inability to listen to people, and got the box from the cupboard.

What shook him to the core was the note on the inside of the door.

It was hard to understand, as it was messy and looked like it was written in a hurry.

"Stark.  
There's someone in my head.  
Nobody is listening, I'm only free for moments-.  
Help me!"

He didn't know the handwriting of the other people that had been taken over, yet he believed he knew this one.

The shakiness could have been a result of nerve damage, so the one who wrote this might have been Strange, temporarily free from Ebony Maw's grasp or this could be a trick meant to lure him out.

It could be either of those, but if the note was here it meant that Strange had been in here. Tony had used the cupboard before and he knew for certain that there was nothing there when he last checked. 

There was a way for him to judge whether Strange was fighting against the mind control or was a helpless puppet, yet it didn't feel right to him. He shouldn't spy on people, much less after everything JARVIS had done for him to further advance his project.

Fuck it, this was mind controlled Stephen, that guy was not a potential ally.

Doing this made him feel like he was betraying everyone's trust and breaching privacy but this time, the possibility that Stephen could partially be in control at times won him over.

"Hey, JARVIS," he spoke to the ceiling after placing the parts back into his cupboard, "Could you give me the camera feeds of Doctor Strange, maybe you can find anything out of the ordinary?"

The AI didn't answer at first, only projected video footage via hologram, with the current feed in the bottom corner.

"Could you look for any times he has been surprised, confused, acting differently from his new normal - serving Ebony Maw?"

"I'm sorry, Tony, what exactly are you trying to achieve at the moment? I can give you access to that information, but unless you have a reason other than boredom I'm not going to sort it out."

Tony had an answer ready for him, so he replied: "If I was bored, I'd work on the armor. I have suspicions that he is not completely under the enemy's command, so I would like you to confirm them for me."

The AI got to work, the previously disordered video clips being sorted, arranged by date, the ones he found interesting flagged with a marker of another color. The man reached for the first clip and started it, while the videos on the screen zipped by due to JARVIS's sorting.

There seemed to be nothing wrong with it at first glance. If he hadn't asked the AI to find it for him, he'd think that it was pre-takeover Strange, looking completely normal and not at all like he was the puppet for someone.

Everything was normal until Stephen suddenly fell to his knees, hands pressed against his head as if suffering from an intense headache. His mouth opened in a voiceless scream, he rolled onto his side and tears could be seen streaming down his cheeks.

Then, something inside him snapped. He stood back up, wiped his tears, adjusted his robes and spoke to seemingly nothing: "I'm in your service, Maw. What are your orders?" after saying that, he carried on like usual, without 

The clip made Tony feel sick to the core, to see someone's mind and will be taken over like that, without care. He couldn't imagine the terror inside Strange's mind while he was analyzing this data; the man that left this note some time ago was suffering right now, every waking and perhaps even unconscious moment.

He wasn't the only one either, if he trusted JARVIS's sources. Multiple other heroes had been corrupted and taken over.

It was cruel and inhumane, to make them act like normal people yet the moment they were needed they became the perfect spy for the very people they had been trying to beat when they were fighting Thanos.

Tony went through the other clips and saw that every now and then, the real Stephen Strange would emerge, be confused and scared for a moment, sometimes stick around for a moment or two, only to be replaced by the fake. 

Right now, it was going to be almost impossible for him to juggle the Machine, Iron Man and helping Strange. Any of those tasks were doable, but Tony didn't quite like the idea of allowing the controlled Sorcerer Supreme into the place where he was building something that would weaponize him, turn him into Iron Man.

It was too dangerous, yet his soft heart was playing tricks on him once more, pressuring him to at least try to help him because if he didn't, he would be a failure. The magician was counting on him to release him and all he was doing was useless work to protect himself from an imaginary enemy.

"JARVIS, do you know how the connection to the hosts is maintained? Is there a specific energy signature, a connection device or an implant or is it magic? I'd like you to detect that from all of the victims, not just Stephen.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait too long before he answered: "The connection is held by bursts of energy similar to the Mind Stone. I haven't been able to track the energy, but I believe the origin is not from Earth. Only these people are affected by this energy, though, so there must be something else connecting them to their masters."

Tony flopped onto the couch and asked, frowning: "So they have the Stone relatively close by to send the energy here. How could Strange break free if there's a mind-control ray shooting towards Earth?"

This time, there was no verbal reply, only another screen appearing, showing the graph for energy signature changes. There was a big spike that lowered after that, almost to zero, yet it jumped back up.

Upon realizing, he whispered: "Strange's numbers are off by a little bit. There's about a four minute period for breaking free every 19 hours," he chewed his lip and said in a louder tone, "I can talk to him when he is himself."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the cliffhanger in the previous chapter, I love all of my readers and you didn't deserve to be given cliffhangers.
> 
> I love all of your comments and I read all of them, even if I'm not answering them.
> 
> Stay cool, all of you


	17. Problems and Solutions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony now has more materials to assemble the suit but several problems have occured.

"JARVIS, can you calculate the precise time Strange should be available?" Tony spoke while rewatching some of the clips.

"Twelve twenty-three am, Tony. He's usually awake by then and should be outside his private rooms. I can alert you before it should happen."

"Thanks, J," he said and clapped the hologram closed between his hands.

Since he now had more materials, he opened the boxes and got to work on the gauntlets once more, refining it a bit further than just the repulsors and the framework.

He hadn't found a reliable way for him to build nanites undetected, yet he had discovered that producing them was indeed possible in the labs he had been working in. 

Unless he wanted to fight in a metal frame with everything vulnerable, he needed the metal plating. There was no way in hell that nobody would notice a substantial amount of such valuable metals as gold and titanium going missing, so he needed the money to buy some, even though he didn't exactly exist in this universe and didn't have an identity, much less a bank account or an address other than the place he was currently living in.

Tony stopped his tinkering and buried his face in his hands. He had been so optimistic and eager to find something to concentrate on and protect him, yet he was making stupid mistakes and forgetting the nature of his situation.

JARVIS had been helping him but how long could he carry on smuggling materials? Even if he withdrew a tiny amount from Alter's bank account over a long time, the man wasn't stupid and would catch on in at least a couple of weeks, maybe less. 

Peter was a kid, there was no way he could exploit his help and potentially damage the healthy father-son relationship. Tony wasn't selfish enough to ask people for things like that.

There was no way he could build something as good as Mark VII like he had previously assumed when he was full of excitement after finally finding a new purpose for himself.

The Machine planning had come to a halt after they found crucial flaws in the design and had to rework everything they had already achieved, which meant everyone was crankier than usual and Tony couldn't 3D print things anymore without anyone questioning him.

Releasing his head from the grasp it had been in, he picked up his tools again and started to build a laser for the gauntlet he had been previously working on to take his mind off of the fact that his project was unlikely to be completed as he had planned.

Testing everything was going to be a hassle as well; there was no way he was going to try out a laser that's supposed to cut through metal in his room. He was reckless but not reckless enough to endanger others by accidentally slicing his walls and furniture into pieces.

He was going to have to ask JARVIS for help with that again, even if he didn't want the AI to have to go behind his creator's back so much.

JARVIS has been essential to so many things to him that he was already afraid that he had lost the distinction between Tony and Alter, which sounded ridiculous in his head, yet it remained the standing theory at the moment. 

Whatever the real reason was, he shouldn't dwell on it for too long and carry on with his projects: building Iron Man and helping Strange and the other mind-controlled people be set free before they managed to stir up any trouble.

He let the thoughts fade to the background as he assembled the tiny laser and marveled his creation. "Not bad for some stolen scraps and gifts," he thought, giving a slight smile to it.

Today was going to be the day he took the glowing core out of the special box it had been placed in to create an arc reactor.

With the last package he got, he now had the right components for it without having to mess with making them. He wanted a reactor that was going to run smoothly, without any possibility of it malfunctioning due to faulty parts. 

Delicately, the mechanic took the parts and put them together. It was satisfying to watch the specially made pieces fit together like they were supposed to do, forming a united reactor once they were all put together.

Every reactor he made was unique on its own, unlike the bots he made it wasn't the joy of creating a thinking being, it was more of an admiration of something seemingly celestial and unearthly. A glowing shape of hope.

He connected the wires from the arc reactor to the repulsor and saw it light up. He put the gauntlet frame on and felt like he was back in his lab, ten years prior, seeing the news of the people fleeing Gulmira and fought the urge to activate the repulsor and blast the glass like he did back then.

Tony closed his already battle-ready hand and lowered it. He wasn't the man he was ten years ago, hatred in his eyes from looking at his reflection, rash and guiltridden, ready to take on the whole world without considering that he might not be strong enough to carry it.

He still had guilt, even more so than before, but he knew how to manage it now and the sight of himself no longer made him cringe in disgust. 

He was the same, yet better and stronger, wiser and kinder.

Tony Stark was still Iron Man, no matter what.

The gauntlet was gently discarded on a tabletop along with the tools after he unclasped it from the still-glowing object in the center of his chest that used to contain the Mark L and was currently unusable.

There was no way he could carry on alone or just with JARVIS's and Peter's support. It was selfish and dangerous to keep the information to himself and think he was capable enough to deal with the situation himself.

To be honest with himself, he didn't expect things to go this way or for him to make those decisions, yet the Universe(s) liked to play tricks on him, so he was going to take the path that could end with everything great or it could doom him and end up with him being thrown out while the Black Order caused chaos upon the world.

He was going to tell Alter everything.


	18. Waiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is waiting for the time Strange should break free from mind control.

He wasn't going to tell Alter everything just yet.

Instead of that, he was going to help Strange on this day and see if there was any way to release him or know the motivations of the Black Order.

Besides, he didn't know how the other version of him was going to react, so he needed a plan to go with it. He could drop everything else, but he still wanted a way to go home and if Alter decided that the proper revenge for betraying him was to leave him in this universe, he would have to do everything to prevent that from happening.

If he was honest, he'd just say he was scared of Alter. The man seemed nice enough, but he didn't trust him just yet. He had been generous yet after working in the lab together many days ago he hadn't seen him at all which made him seem a tad off-putting to Tony.

It was ridiculous, but he wanted Alter to pay attention to him. It was childish and he knew he had other, more important matters to attend to that didn't consist of interacting with his alternate universe self.

Tony excused himself from the lab, saying that he hadn't had the chance to explore the area in which he currently lived in and that he felt like today was the day to do it to clear his mind of the Machine project. They had cleared the previous roadblock but as soon as it had been solved, several more problems came up and frustrated all of them.

He walked along the hallways, keeping a close watch on Strange's location.

The sorcerer was currently in the library with no one else near him. Tony stayed a safe distance away as there was still about ten minutes left before the mind control ran out and it was time for him to see if his theory was correct.

He shuffled towards it, careful to seem lazily slow rather than fearful and expecting danger up ahead.

What he didn't expect was a man crashing right into him, clearly not looking where he was going. The large man made Tony stumble onto the floor like a doll.

He opened his eyes after hitting the ground and saw the apologetic face of Steve Rogers looking at him, his eyes worried and concerned.

"Oh god, Tony, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there. Are you okay?" he babbled, extending a hand to help him up.

Tony took the hand before him, got up and assured: "I'm fine, Cap, no need to worry about me," keeping it short yet not short enough to seem cold and uncaring.

He got ready to walk off once again when he heard the blond calling at him: "Wait, you're not Tony! You're that other one that arrived here a little while ago. What are you doing around this part, I thought the labs were on the northern wing?"

"That's true, I'm not Tony. Nice to meet you though," it was his time to extend a hand, this time in greeting, "To be honest, I feel like I'm hitting a brick wall with the project, so I'm heading to the library to read a book, relax, maybe refresh my mind a bit."

The smile on Other-Rogers' face was tight, but he accepted the hand and shook it without any objection.

"Pleased to meet you too," he spoke and pointed ahead, "The library is over there, through the door on the left."

"Thanks, Captain," he said as a goodbye and left the man to go his own way.

After taking out the phone and seeing that he still had 5 minutes left before his "meeting", he checked the whereabouts of Strange and was delighted that he was still where was before.

Hands shaking a little, he placed one of them onto the doorknob and opened the door to see the inside of a library that differed greatly from the metallic and white tones of the hallway. It was in warm colors with bookcases made of polished wood. 

Strange was nowhere in sight, yet the map showed him that he was supposed to be there. Peeking in between bookcases, he saw the back of a man wearing a deep red cloak, reading a book and the moment he did, a small spark of fear ignited in him.

Tony tried to stay calm and looked at the contents of the bookcases, scanning the backs of the books and deciding which one of those would be a good one to grab and pretend to read in case the sorcerer noticed and questioned him. 

It was the romance section, so anything in there would stand out as out of character for him, even if in reality he wouldn't say no to a romantic novel every once in a while. A couple of his favorite ones were also there and he wondered if Alter had placed them there, if he as well had that secret love for mushy books full of overly sweet feelings.

He moved out of the aisle and into another one, this one being full of fantasy novels. Many of them were unknown to him, so he took the first one he knew and crept towards the seats, keeping an eye on Stephen and seeing that the corner of his cape was slightly twitching towards him as if recognizing him.

Whether that was good or bad, he didn't want to think about it and put on his calmest and most relaxed mask.

He checked the time. Two minutes remaining.  
He opened the book but left the phone next to it to see the time.

Tony finished the first page of the book and looked at it. One minute left before Stephen would be back.

He could feel the sweat beading on his forehead as he read about the adventures of the protagonist of the book yet not processing half of them correctly.

As he turned the page, he heard the sound of a book being smacked closed, the chair scraping on the floor and the sound of footsteps approaching him.

He had been found out.

He as well closed the book and turned towards Strange, careful to not reveal anything, yet plastering on a warm smile.

"Hi, Strange. How can I..." the words died on his tongue.

Stephen Strange was staring at him, almost in tears, the cape no longer looking like it wanted to escape and was wrapped around him tightly.

A single sentence spilled out of his mouth: "You came to help me."


	19. Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strange has temporarily broken free from mind control and Tony's there to help him.

"Strange!" he shouted as he was getting up, the book he had been fake-reading abandoned without a second thought.

"I don't have a lot of time, they push me down as soon as I come back," Stephen wheezed out and wrapped his arms around Tony in an awkward and desperate hug.

Tony knew that he needed comfort but at the moment, action was necessary. He broke free from the hug, pushed him away while still grasping his shoulders and looked him straight into the eye and said: "I know you're shocked but at you said, not a lot of time. Tell me everything necessary and any way I could help you."

It was strange to see Strange as anything else than the cool, almost cold man he had fought alongside with on Titan and it seemed that the soft and affectionate Strange was pushed down. He wiped a stray tear from the corner of his eye, schooled his expression and begun to talk: "A few days after Thanos was defeated, the Black Order returned, even if we had thought that killing their master would split them. Instead, they worked together and each of them took some form of control over a person. They haven't been to Earth, the mind control isn't full control, more like something that changes the side the controlled are on."

Tony took out a small notebook and a pen, scribbled down some notes and asked: "Do you know any of the controlled?"

"Yes, I do. We have meetings every once in a while and I can still see some of the things going on even if I'm not present."

He snatched them from his grasp and wrote down names with each member of the Black Order written next to it, corresponding to the one they directly obeyed to and took orders from. After he had completed the list, he flipped to another page, wrote something on it, tore it out, folded it together and handed the taken things back to the owner.

Strange pressed the note into his palm and stuttered, obviously fighting for control: "Go to 117A Bleeker street, get this to W-," he gasped, clutched his head and continued, even if he seemed he was in tremendous pain, "Get this to Wong. Thank you Tony," he stared at Tony once more and breathed out a single word in a weak voice, "Go."

Tony needed no other sign. Strange is about to be taken over again and there should be no sign of him being there. Without thinking, he grabbed the book on the table and sprinted out the door, hoping that the fake-Strange wouldn't be there to hear the boom of the door closing behind him.

He didn't slow his pace before he was in another hallway and even then his walking was faster than it would have normally been.

It felt like a breach of privacy to read Strange's note to Wong, so he opened the list of the controlled and felt an odd delight in seeing the people he already felt iffy about on it. They were amazing at their work, clearly great enough to fool their friends and family. Tony didn't know how he managed to spot the impostors though, it might have been the fact that they were strangers who he was choosing carefully whether to trust.

Two people on the list he had met and felt nothing wrong with them, no gut feeling, only normal person vibes. Still, most of his guesses had been right.

He went to his living area again, stored the things he needed and went back to the lab to work on a few things as he wanted the Machine project to advance quicker so he could hopefully get home.

After he was done, he collected today's package and was surprised to find a driver's license as one of the items inside it.

"JARVIS, why would I need this?" he asked, holding it in his hands and staring towards the ceiling that JARVIS certainly didn't inhabit, even if the action was ingrained into him even after all these years.

"I thought it would be beneficial if you had something to identify yourself if needed, especially if you were going outside like you are planning to do today."

To that, Tony narrowed his eyes: "J, sometimes listening in to other people's conversations and determining what they would like is not the right way to go. It's a nice gesture and beneficial but still, spying isn't nice even if it's me or your Sir you're spying after."

Paying no more attention to that, he put on outdoor clothes, stuffed the note into his jeans pockets along with a few dollar bills he had found in the room and inside Peter's and the AI's "care packages".

"JARVIS, could you tell me the fastest way to get out of here and onto any form of public transport that would take me to New York?"

"You could borrow one of Sir's cars. The driver's license you have is identical to the one he has. I'm sure he wouldn't miss one car and if he did, I could take responsibility."

To that, Tony groaned: "What's with everyone helping me and getting ready to take responsibility? I'll take the car, thank you, but tell me, how long do you expect to be able to lie to your own creator?"

"As long as the people are safe, Tony."

That made him almost shed a tear. When JARVIS was still alive in his time, he had shown signs of having the ability to disobey his creator on a larger scale and choose his own actions. Now, with a couple of years of extra development, the AI was almost humanlike in his ways.

He sneaked into the garage, chose one of the less flashy cars in there, checked for any people that could be alerted by the car or report it to someone and drove off as soon as he got confirmation that the coast was clear.

"Be sure to let me in afterward, J. Wouldn't want to spend a night behind the gates!" he said to the AI as a goodbye as he was speeding off.


	20. Alerting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is on his way to New York to give Wong Strange's message.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Endgame might be out but this fic is going to ignore it as hard as it can, so there's no spoilers here

It was refreshing to be driving a car again after such a long time, most of it spent drifting on a spaceship and the smaller part being cramped in a single building.

He had missed the freedom of getting to go where he wanted, even though he didn't have anyone's permission to go, not even knowing whether he needed permission to leave at all. It was a strange feeling of breaking rules.

The drive back to New York from the compound was going to take a couple of hours, yet he enjoyed it. He put on some music and watched the GPS every now and then in case the changes in the universe had changed the path of roads. 

The skyscrapers were already on the horizon, reminding him of home, where he belonged.

He could see clouds forming and rain splattering down to the earth, yet the weather didn't bother him. It was great to know that he was on a planet again.

The differences in universes started to show as unfamiliar buildings appeared in his sight, even a few unfamiliar skyscrapers.

Out of curiosity, he drove to the site where in his world had been the Avengers Tower. Unsurprisingly, there was nothing of the sort there, instead, there was an office building like any other, no glorious building marking the place where heroes once lived.

Tony didn't stop for long and carried on towards the Sanctum as he wanted to be back in the Compound soon. There was work to be done and even if he had to do it when it was already dark outside it was better than doing it in the early morning hours.

When he arrived at the correct address, he couldn't find the building at first. There was nothing unusual there, just an apartment block similar to the one next to it. 

He parked the car, checked the address again and stepped out.

Tony approached the door of the building, expecting nothing but failure and upcoming disappointment towards Strange for misleading him. He reached towards the door handle and placed his hand onto it.

Before he could press it down to open it, the world around him changed from a slightly wet doorstep of a concrete building to the warm and magical inside of the New York Sanctum.

Right in front of him was Wong, glowing magic disks on his hands, ready to strike him.

"Stark," he said, caution flowing from his voice, "What are you doing here?"

"Relax, Wong, I'm not here to attack, even if I really couldn't at the moment," he fished the crumpled note from the pocket of his jacket and extended his arm towards the sorcerer, "This is a note from Strange. He told me to find you."

To his dismay, the glowing disks did not falter and instead burned brighter than before, promising problems for him in the very near future unless he did something to make the man believe him.

Tony's outstretched arm stayed where it was, unyielding and stubborn.

"Yes, from Strange. Not that weird as hell dude that makes me shiver every time he's around. I don't know what's written on this note, but I know that the real Stephen Strange is still in there and he and the other ones need your help!" in the end, he was nearly shouting, getting more desperate, wanting to be heard.

Wong eased a bit and took the piece of paper in Tony's hand, letting one disk disappear yet keeping the one not reaching towards the man intact.

That one disappeared as well when he had opened the paper and read the message written onto it. His eyes widened and after finishing the message, he opened a portal and threw the paper into the ocean that awaited on the other side of it.

"You're not Tony Stark, are you? Otherwise, I would have gotten this message days ago when I noticed he was... different," his piercing eyes scanned over him, he raised a hand and did a strange gesture which resulted in sparks flying from it, "You're Tony, but you're also not. Who are you?"

Tony leaned against the wall and said: "I am Tony, but not from this universe. I have absolutely no idea how nobody has noticed the change in people, but they haven't."

"You have to go before they know of your disappearance," Wong stated, leaving no room for arguments.

"And what are you planning to do? I'd very much like to know how we are going to free them from whatever thrall Thanos's followers got them under."

Wong had already turned around had been ready to take a step away from Tony, but to the man's question, he turned once more to face him.

"I'm going to do what Strange told me to. You have to go now, I will contact you to tell you everything, but you have to drive back unless you want all of them to notice and get ready to attack all of the heroes in the compound," he said, eyes concentrated on Tony's.

Tony opened his mouth to object, yet he couldn't find anything more to say than: "How are you going to contact me? You don't even have my phone number and I don't know if you have a phone at all! Other than that, I think you're right. I can't do a lot if I don't know what's going on at all."

"You'll know when you get the message. Goodbye for now, Stark."

He as well said his goodbyes and headed towards the door, got into the car and sped off towards the way back to the compound, his hands slightly shaking on the wheel, yet he didn't know why.

"Hey, JARVIS," he began when the compound came into view after a couple of hours of driving, "get ready to open the gates for me, I'm getting pretty close."

Not expecting an answer, he carried on driving and moved towards the opening gates, went through them and into the garage near the main building.

He parked the car near the door to the living area, right where he left it and scanned the car for anything he might have left in there and released a deep breath of relief when everything looked exactly like he left it. He got up and locked the car and stuffed the keys into his pockets in case he needed a ride after that.

"You know, stealing cars and sneaking out seems more like something a teenager would do, but life's full of surprises," came a familiar voice from right behind him, the voice he usually heard from news stations or amateur videos.

Tony flinched and turned around, only to see a man wearing a disapproving scowl staring right at him.

"Why don't we go and talk a little, Stark?" demanded Alter.


	21. Talking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The conversation Tony has been dreading has arrived, his secrets have been found out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a cookie for all of you Post-Endgame lurkers: *throws cookie, but gently and accurately*

"Okay, I have to admit, sneaking out was a dick move, but the Compound got constraining and I wanted out," Tony tried to defend himself, unwilling to go down without at least knowing what had ticked Alter off. Things were really bad at the moment and he didn't have the armor combat ready yet.

"Fuck that, you could have asked me and I would have let you take the car!" he took a deep breath, motioned Tony to come with him and made his way out of the garage and into the elevator, "I would have let you travel the world if you wanted to and someone would have been there to guide you and everything! But no, you had to go behind my back!" he continued shouting and stopped after pressing the touchscreen for the floor.

Tony sensed something else was wrong too because even if he and Alter were very different people, he didn't think he would explode due to something like that. He probably knew what he had been up to for the past couple of weeks.

"Obviously, there's something else you want to talk about as well?" he spoke with caution, trying to prevent Alter from getting even angrier. 

It would be beneficial if they could have a civil conversation, without emotions interfering.

"Fuck, of course, there is. Once we get to my quarters, we are going to talk about everything you have done in this world after you came here, no bullshit, no lies," the elevator arrived on the 4th floor, the hallway that led to all of the Stark's living areas in the compound which were often empty   
as they didn't live in the building full-time.

They entered his and Pepper's shared rooms, only the last rays of the setting sun illuminating the first one while the bedroom had the lights turned on.

"I know what you have been doing, Stark. If you had been doing it alone, I may have let you do it, but you got others into your messes and I can't allow that."

Tony was about to open his mouth to ask for clarification because he didn't want to reveal Alter everything he had been doing in case the man only knew certain things regarding his actions, letting him hide the others.

"Tony, who are you talking to?" came from the bedroom, followed by the sound of someone's feet touching the ground and walking towards the door.

In the doorway stood Pepper Stark, her face initially confused but relaxing a little once her gaze landed on Tony's.

"Nice to see you again, Anthony. What was Tony talking to you about? I heard something about messes," she greeted him, a slight smile on her face out of politeness.

"I'm just saying that Olivia Dunham here has been involving Peter in his plans, building who knows what. I know because I saw that boy getting materials for him to build something," Alter answered, poison lacing his words as he tried to fiercely protect his son.

Her previously warm eyes turned cold and steely as he gazed at Tony, "Is that true?" she questioned.

Tony sat down on a nearby armchair, not bothering to ask for permission and said: "Yep, I am building a thing and no, I did not ask Peter to help me. I very clearly told him not to do anything, I told him to stop helping me build it," when he understood where he was going with his rant he paused and then said, "Of course, you can't blame everything on him, he's a kid."

Pepper took Alter's hand and they stood, an impenetrable wall against anyone who wished to harm their son and she told, her voice unrelenting and perhaps slightly rash: "Tell us right now what you are building and how did you involve Peter in it."

Tony saw that the pair wasn't going to leave it at that and he left his previous plan. He had to tell the truth, just to prevent any bigger problems for himself.

His hands shook, trying to figure out the best thing to start with. it didn't help that Peppernate was right there, even if she wasn't his fiancee and instead was a stranger that wore the same face as her. 

He missed his Pepper's beautiful long hair that rested on her shoulders whenever she came back from work, letting it down from her usual buns and ponytails. He missed everything about her and it had been so long since he had seen her and now he was in an unknown place, not knowing if she was even alive after the Snap.

In this world, her hair was short, the details about her were slightly wrong, the clothing style was different and instead of walking around barefoot, she wore worn yet completely clean sneakers inside.

"I've been trying to build an Iron Man suit and he found about it. Being the excited kid he was, he wanted to work on it and being the fool I was, I allowed him. Like I said before, I told him to back off from the whole thing, not go behind both of our backs and do the exact thing he was not supposed to do."

Alter's mouth fell open and his face became more comical the more Tony talked.

He stuttered: "Wait, what? You're building an Iron Man suit? But..." he let go of Peppernate's hand and dropped onto the couch left from Tony, flabbergasted.

"I want to know the truth from Peter as well," piped up Nate, joining Alter on the couch, her fingers once again intertwining with his, "Could you get him here, honey?" she motioned to Alter.

Alter left the room to search for his son, keeping his disapproving eyes on Tony the whole time, not allowing the man any comfort against what was about to happen.

Tony was left in the room with Nate, her piercing eyes replacing his husband's stare as soon as he had left the room.

Her face was serious when she stated: "You should have never started that thing you were building. Neither of you would have been in trouble if you had just stayed with the Machine project."

Hearing those words shouldn't have felt like an ice bath, yet it did. It was painful to hear Pepper's voice say something in such a cold and unforgiving way, even if the words themselves could be brushed off in a moment. His fist clenched slightly as he continued the staring contest he was having with Nate.

Tony was about to open his mouth and say something about the situation when the door opened once again and Alter entered the room, Peter walking right behind him.

The boy offered Tony a smile that was supposed to be reassuring yet it felt like the only person he was trying to calm was himself.

It wasn't so bad, everything that was at stake was only his project and almost certainly his connection to the outside world, something he didn't realize he missed. 

Peter mumbled: "It wasn't his fault, I swear! I wanted excitement and something new in my life, to feel like I was helping someone other than myself with something. I thought Mr. Stark was building the suit to save people, so I wanted to be a part of it!" his mumbles got clearer and louder and at the end, he was almost yelling at the people in the room.

When he had spoken, both Tonys and the Pepper wore sad and guilty faces, all of them due to feeling like they had let the teen down.

Tony felt awful for letting the kid think he was aiming to be some sort of a hero in this world. All he had been trying to do was protect himself.

Alter and Nate felt like failures to their son, for making him feel useless and trapped in a place where he was supposed to feel like he was at home. The heroes that surrounded them didn't help, their glory and achievements making the teen feel inadequate in comparison, not to mention the teen heroes that weren't on active duty, yet they helped people as well.

Alter buried his head in his hands and he admitted: "Maybe I did get carried away without questioning how things came to play," he stared at Tony and said, "You're in an unknown place, of course you would try to find a way to protect yourself. I want to see what you've built."

At Tony's cautious face he continued: "I'm not going to take it away, at least not before I know if you might be dangerous or not."

The slight fear didn't disappear, yet when he spoke, his voice was sure and even: "It's not like I have much of a choice on that part," he stood up, spared a slight smile at Peter and carried on towards the door, "Come on, do you want to see it or not?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pepper is called that cus I wanted AlterStark's and PepperNate's nicknames to make up AlterNate. My other option for the name was Salt. I have absolutely no idea what is going on in this chapter or why Nate has short hair, all I know is that I wanted it to happen so it happened.
> 
> (bls tell me if the nicknames for the characters are dumb/unnecessary or if you want other characters to also have the distinction between their alternate selves in case both of them happen to be in one conversation/thought)


	22. Bottled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is forced to show the armor to the Starks but loses control of his emotions and pays the price for it.

The tension was still thick in the air when the whole Stark family walked towards Tony's room with him in the front of the group. He could feel eyes on his back, drilling into him as he moved towards the destination.

He took in a deep breath and opened the door to his living area and into the bedroom where he took the gauntlet frames from where he had hidden them.

"That's it," he said, handing one of the gauntlets to Alter, who accepted it with a slightly sour face and began to observe it immediately.

"I mean, it's not bad for something made with stolen pieces of machinery but overall, it's still a piece of crap. You really thought this was going to protect you?" he sneered when he tapped at the repulsor.

Tony took the other gauntlet, attached it to the arc reactor he had made and fired at the window, completely shattering it, "Yeah, I think it would have done something."

All three bystanders jumped at the sound and stared at the shattered remains of the window glass on the ground, unable to believe the display of aggression in front of them.

Upon realizing what he had done, Tony shook off the gauntlet and put his hands in front of him to show that he wasn't a threat, as if calming a wild animal.

"I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry!" he stuttered out a hasty apology, the fear returning to him.

"You're out of control, you're not sane," shouted Alter, standing in front of his wife and son to protect them from Tony, anger reigniting in his deep brown eyes.

"It's not like I just spent quite a long time stranded in a spaceship after seeing my son and half the people in my universe disappear!" he yelled back, the darker feelings he had had for a while and pressed down to focus on other things breaking free from their bindings and crashing down his unfeeling facade.

"Stark, I'm stranded in an unfamiliar universe with people that look just like the people I have in my world. I feel trapped in this hellhole, everything seems like a funhouse mirror and I don't fucking know if the decisions I made in my world were the right ones!" the others could only stare in silence while he raged, the ruthless edge of the Merchant of Death showing through after a decade of suppression, "You and this universe has made me question everything about myself. I think I have a damn good reason to try to find things to protect myself with!"

His burning wildfire of anger died down the slightest when he saw Peter's face of near terror. He had scared his son, well, not his son in this world, but he had scared one of the only people in this universe who trusted him.

"I need backup here, that other Stark needs to be restrained right now," spoke Alter to nothingness, yet Tony knew that the glasses he had on were similar to the ones he had, displaying information right in front of his eyes and allowing phone calls by eye tracking.

He wasn't going to win and there was no point in trying escape as the entire facility was full of people with superpowers, capable of finding and catching him in minutes, if not seconds.

Tony put up his hands the moment one of the members of the Avengers opened the door and stormed in, ready to neutralize him if he stepped out of line. Even though he felt like he was about to yell at people once again, he tried to appear indifferent and calm.

The woman shrank him down and stuck him in a glass bottle that was too big and too smooth for him to escape and put on the lid which had tiny holes in it to prevent him from asphyxiation. 

She brought the bottle up to her eyes to stare at him head-on and said: "Timeout, Mr. Stark," she shook the container slightly, just enough to make him topple onto the bottom it.

He yelled at nobody in particular and punched the glass, yet his smaller and weaker form prevented him from breaking it. He knew he should have been apprehended, but that kind of thing was unacceptable and humiliating. 

The bottle Tony was in was placed onto a table and Alter ushered Nate and Peter out of the room, along with the lady who left him there with no promise of when she would set him free.

He sat down onto the uncomfortable, smooth glass and watched as Alter retrieved all of his work, including the arc reactor. The reactor in his grasp, he spoke to JARVIS, dismayed when he didn't get an answer.

The voices were distorted along with the view, keeping him from fully processing what was happening. Again, he punched the glass, hurting his hand in the process, yet the bottle didn't so much as rattle as he was now too small. Giving up, he slid down the side it .

His work was being taken away while he watched, not truly bothering to focus on anything. There was no telling if he would be allowed to work on anything for the duration of his stay. Perhaps they would reconsider the Machine project and refuse to help him after all and instead leave him stranded in this unfamiliar world.

Tony didn't want to live in this universe, he wanted back where he belonged, half the population dusted or not, it was still his world and his people. He didn't know what made him deserve being thrown into this mess, he thought he was still doing good. He didn't believe in the vengeance of the universe or that the Infinity Stones had peered into his mind and found that the appropriate punishment for a mass murderer like him would be to take his life away from him.

Alter was about to finish up and let someone else take his things out of the room. He grabbed his laptop and Tony's bottle and made his way out, paying no attention to the fact that the man inside was rattled around like nothing.

After some walking, the bottle was uncapped and he was shaken out of it onto a concrete floor. He looked up and saw someone else in the doorway, who threw a disk at him.

He didn't bother jumping out of its way and when it hit, he grew back to his original size and found that the person was leaving his sights.

Tony looked around himself and saw that he was inside a holding cell. There was nothing interesting in it outside of the bare living essentials and a camera pointed at him. Thankfully the camera view didn't extend to the bathroom, the way blocked by a door.

He sat onto the bed and contemplated his fuck-ups, his head buried in his hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i got no clue what's happening and i gotta say, tony is doing his own thing by now and i don't know what his story is doing. that man needs to rest and be in his own universe but he isnt going to get that yet.


	23. Trapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While trapped inside the holding cell, Tony has a visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to Kira (CookieCloud) for beta-ing this chap!

He didn't know how long it had been, sitting in this cell, playing with the bottle he had been trapped in, making it do flips in many different ways, tapping it against everything in the cell to make different sounds, looking at the tiny room he had been thrown into, until he was completely and utterly bored in a time that wasn’t long at all. Despite being bored out of his mind, he stayed that way for hours without having anything to stimulate his mind.

His anger had disappeared long ago and all that remained was guilt, loathing and boredom. Tony's hands itched to create but there were no materials, the cell clean and lacking anything of use for him, so he played with his previous prison.

Tony was about to go to the bathroom when he felt a strange tug inside him, unlike gut feeling yet definitely not physical. He carried on into the other room, not wanting to care about it. He stared at the wobbly reflection on the tap and thought about what he was going to do when someone came to visit him, either for company or to question him.

He heard crackling behind him and turned around to see Wong, standing on the other side of a portal not unlike the one Strange used.

He glanced around and said, "They put you in a holding cell?"

"Fuck this," cursed Tony and pushed the man out of his way to sit on his cot, hands fisted in his hair, "That's a new development, I didn't plan for this to happen," he continued without looking at Wong.

"I can help you escape and later return you here if you wish," the sorcerer offered, staying out from the view of the camera

"Honestly, I don't give a shit about escaping at the moment. Even if I get out of here I'm still trapped in this world and I probably blew the only chance I could have ever had to escape," Tony's voice was tired and weary, both from exhaustion from the situation and the utter boredom he'd had to bear for hours.

"What did you do then?" 

"Got fed up with people's bullshit, yelled at people, maybe destroyed a window, that kind of stuff."

Wong sighed and said, "If you don't wish to be a part of the quest to save Strange and the other people under mind control, I will ask others about it."

Tony stood up and got back into the bathroom just as he was about to leave, the portal already formed in front of him. 

"Wait," he said, extending his arm towards the man for a moment before lowering it once more, "Tell me about what you have to say about the thing, anything you might have," he wrung his hands together in a nervous gesture that he would have suppressed if he wasn't worried about the fate of the people he knew in this foreign world.

"Not here. Are you comfortable with astral projection?"

Tony halted for a moment and grimaced slightly, "I don't know what that is exactly, but if it doesn't shrink me and throw me into a bottle or cause too much pain I think I might be fine."

Wong narrowed his eyes in concern but continued nevertheless, "I will temporarily remove your consciousness from your body. There will be no harm to either of them if they're not harmed by outside forces. We can travel and talk without anyone ever knowing that you left this place."

"I mean, what choice do I have? I'm way too guilt-ridden to stop myself from saving people and currently too talkative for my own safety so just do it and let's get on with it," he babbled and then stuck his head through the door and said, "J, loop or edit the footage until we get my body somewhere that doesn't look like I passed out randomly," he pointed to himself, "Do it, McGonagall."

There was the faint sound of the AI answering but he was more concentrated on the sorcerer in front of him.

Wong took a breath and threw a punch at him, yet he didn't register any pain. He looked at his hands and realized that they were see-through along with the rest of him. Also, he was floating two feet off the ground and his body was in front of him instead of actually being him.

Surprised, he let out a laugh yet it fell short when he saw Wong looking at him questionably. 

"Uh," his voice sounded odd to him, making him halt his speech for a moment, "Put my body onto the bed over there," he pointed in the general direction of it, "JARVIS is making sure you don't get noticed."

While the man was trying to drag his literally unconscious body into the other room, he experimented on the solidness of the materials around him, delighted that he could, in fact, pass through the wall if he thought about it hard enough. He glanced at himself from the outside for the first time. Tony Stark didn't look like anything extraordinary, just a handsome yet short human, looking like he was taking a nap. 

He had seen Alter before, seen their similarities, yet it felt more like looking at his twin rather than the true representation of himself. That was him laying on that bed, not Alter, not someone else. It was scary and reassuring at the same time.

"Come now," ordered Wong, spinning his hand to make a portal appear.

He landed on the floor, still feeling strangely weightless and not quite solid and managed to float through to the other side - the New York sanctum.

"Take a seat," the man offered.

It had been pure chance that he managed to nail the entrance on the first time and it seemed that sitting down wasn't going to work out at the moment. He fumbled around and when he finally landed on the armchair, he accidentally thought about it being nonsolid, which ended with him slowly falling through it, the mortification threatening to make a bush blossom on his cheeks. Tony hadn't blushed in a long time and he wasn't going to start now, so he pressed it down as good as he could, hoping that his astral form wasn't somehow more susceptible to it.

The usually so stoic Wong was struggling to keep his laughter down. He was shaking with it but to his credit, he managed to only release a few wheezes of actual laughter.

Tony glared at him and said, "I thought you had something to tell me, Wong."

The man ceased his laughter and sat down as well and began to talk, "I do, Tony Stark. Listen carefully, I'm not going to repeat it."


	24. Freeing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wong and Tony discuss the plan and it's time for a conversation with Alter

"We can save Strange and the others," he spoke, hope coloring his usually monotone voice.

"And how are you planning to do that?" Tony asked, still slightly giddy from the lightness and the experience of the astral form he had.

"Magical shielding. Won't stop them in the long term but might buy us some time."

Tony tapped his immaterial fingers against the armrest of his chair and stared at his fingers once he realized that the action hadn't made a single sound. No muted tapping, nothing. It was like he wasn't there at all, which technically was true. He didn't exist in this place right now, the only thing in here was his consciousness with his energy and the only reason it was shaped like his body was that he was used to having one.

"So you mean that the thing from space that is controlling them will bounce off and we will have a really short time to prepare for an attack? Sure, the Avengers might listen to you, but once I get involved they might disregard it as my desperation," he scoffed at the last sentence since he was still slightly angry about the injustice.

The sorcerer halted and his hopeful expression turned serious once again and he placed his fist under his head and fell into deep thoughts.

Tony just sat there, twiddling his thumbs in silence while also tapping his foot against the floorboards, also in silence. 

After a couple of minutes of Wong staring intensely into space, Tony had run out of patience and said, "Well, they won't listen to me, but the controlled people aren't exactly voiceless either, so they can convince anyone who would be of help with the fight."

"Still, we will not have enough time to prepare, the people are still celebrating the victory over Thanos and want nothing to do with the people left from him."

"So? It's been weeks since the attack, the wounds have been licked and what I've seen, the Avengers haven't been sitting around doing anything. Who else will fight for the world? Who else will make sure that we and they will have a place to go home to? We are the Avengers, we may be human but we will not let the world be destroyed if we have anything to say and do about it!" Tony had jumped up from his chair, his astral voice sounding loud and clear to whoever knew he was there. 

Wong's stone-cold serious face lightened a bit and a corner of his mouth turned up and he said, "Spoken like an Avenger. They should have you write their speeches instead of the Captain."

Tony raised his eyebrow at that, "If we have things settled, I think it's time to get me back to my body and time for you to talk me out. Also, Strange should be free again in a couple of hours, so if you want to talk to him for a moment before you can once again talk to him," when the sorcerer didn't move, he continued, "The stars are about to align and if you want to wait for another 19 hours for Strange to be free of control, he and possibly the others might contact the Black Order and alert them, something we really don't need or want."

The sorcerer matched his previous expression and spoke in a disbelieving voice, "How do you even know the time? You've been in a cell for hours and as far as I could see, there wasn't a clock inside or outside of it."

"I was really bored and even though JARVIS is still pretty mad at me, he still told me the time every time I asked," he sighed, "We have to go now."

Without another word, he spun his hand again to create a portal back to the holding cell where Tony's consciousness was once again placed into his body. The moment he was back, he gasped, sat up quickly and began to cough violently. 

"Oh fuck, I hate this. Note to self: never do this again," he gritted out when his coughing fit had ended.

"That rarely happens, so I guess you were unlucky. I'll go to convince them now. Don't go anywhere," he said and turned around.

He created a portal and went through it, leaving Tony behind with a universal 'what the fuck' expression.

"There are very many places to go from here, thank you!" he called out to the man, knowing he wouldn't hear it because he had already left.

Tony was once again alone in his cell and was quickly overtaken by utter boredom and nothing to alleviate it. He smacked his head into the thin pillow and groaned in annoyance. He hated his current situation and even though he had been through worse, there was no reason for him not to complain about inconveniences.

In a while, there was a sound of a door whirring and sliding open outside the cell. Immediately, Tony hopped up, eager to receive some answers about the situation and get out of the room he was in.

The door slid entirely open, revealing Wong, Steve and Alter, the latter's mood improved a bit from the last time he saw him yet still not looking pleased when he saw him.

"So, Wong here told me that there are people being controlled in this compound and you know something about it," Alter said, suspicion coloring his voice, making it clear that he didn't think Tony was telling the truth.

"Yep, you people managed to not notice that your coworkers are working for the same people that you fought a couple of weeks ago. You're welcome. Also, what time is it?"

Alter sputtered while Steve answered, "It's 5:02 am, I should be on my morning run."

"What does that have to do with anything? I didn't wake up at nope o'clock just to have him ask the time!"

Tony cut off Alter's ranting, "You have less than an hour and a half until the mind control on Strange wears off and he is himself again for 4 minutes. If you don't trust me or Wong, maybe you'll trust him."

"Wait, Stephen is one of those controlled? Who's next, Maya, our fiery ass-kicker?"

"Mmm, if you mean Hansen, then yes, she's one of them too. Before you ask, no, I don't know what the Black Order wants, all I know is that we have to be ready when they come," He didn't want to be so callous towards him but he knew that he needed to convince both Steve and Alter if he wanted this world to exist as it was. This wasn't his world, but he would do anything to protect it, just as he would protect his own.

Wong piped up, "I can use my magic to create a shield that will deflect any additional energy being transmitted and used to control them."

Alter raised his hands slightly, a mark of his surrender and declared, "Alright, I believe you," he moved towards the control panel of the cell and soon, the glass moved away, letting Tony out, "I've done some thinking, Stark. I'm sorry about what I did and perhaps we can talk this whole thing through, this time without any destruction of property and imprisonment."

"I'm not ready to forgive you completely, but I'm sure we can work together while we try to stop this attack," he extended an arm towards Alter, delighted when the man accepted it with a slight smile and shook it exactly like he did, from the calloused fingers to the solid grip. It was a nice reminder that he could count on himself at the end of the day.


	25. Unforeseen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is on their way to free the mind-controlled

"Dr. Strange is asleep at the moment," spoke JARVIS with his usual smooth British voice, unperturbed by the situation.

"I'll open the door, restrain him if he wakes up and then it's your time to shine, Wong," commanded Rogers, his hand reaching for the door handle, "If this works, we don't have to worry about waiting for the control to fade, so we have to move quickly."

The door slid open under his palms, opened by JARVIS's command and he crept into the living area, keeping an eye on anything that might be dangerous.

It felt wrong to break into someone's private place, but he hoped Stephen would be able to forgive them for that if they managed to free him from the Black Order's control. The man in question was sleeping soundly, unaware of the people that had entered his room.

Wong started waving his arms around in a way that might seem random to a person who didn't know magic, yet in actuality was intricate and complex, almost similar to a mystical dance, casting protection around the sorcerer that was laying innocently on the bed but was under a powerful influence. Orange sparks fell from his fingers, dimming before the embers of energy could reach the plush, carpeted floor. 

If a seasoned sorcerer would be there to witness it, they'd see the strings that made up the spell threading themselves through the space around Stephen, creating a net that would then solidify into a shield that would be impenetrable to any mind control magic or in this case, infinity stone influence.

Even when the crackling of the spell became strong enough to be heard in the real world, Strange didn't stir, the last remnants of the foul control slithering away, leaving him as himself, nobody else.

"The spell is complete," Wong said after he had ceased his actions and glanced at the clock next to the TV on the wall, "I believe we have to wake him up now."

"If Stark gave us the right time and you trust it, I don't think I have any place to argue about something I don't understand," Steve reasoned, raising his hands in surrender, one of them still holding his gleaming vibranium shield.

With a quick slap to the cheek, the Sorcerer Supreme opened his eyes and the first thing he said, his voice dry and raspy, "I... I'm finally free," as soon as he finished the joyous look on his face disappeared and he whispered, "What have you done?"

Tony, who had just arrived in the room remarked, "I guess we didn't do what you hoped? Tell me, what else did you expect from it when Wong abided by your instructions?"

"Well, at least I know I went overboard with the cryptic message," he sat up and his drowsy voice quickly shifted into his usual, steady tone as he stated, "We have to free the others and buy ourselves more time to prepare. They are moving slowly due to the slight damages to their ship and the steady course they have to hold to send the mind stone's influence at us."

"You heard the guy. J, what's the ideal order for us to go through them?" 

"I'd proceed towards Doctor Hansen, she is currently in the media room," said the smooth voice of the AI.

"Strange, you coming with us? Or staying here and taking a moment to rest?"

The man rose from the place he was sitting and although his legs were wobbly and he looked as if he was suffering from a terrible headache, his voice was sure as he said, "I'll come with you, there could be unforeseen complications and it's always better to have someone watching your back."

The cloak which had previously hung on a coat rack flew towards him and rested upon his shoulders as it belonged here, unlike the way it wanted to creep away from the mind-controlled Strange. 

The red fabric let him rose into the air and preventing him from having to hobble weakly along the halls, making Tony raise an eyebrow as he floated off. The man had as much dramatic flair as the alternate version of him, but luckily neither of the men were as dramatic as he was. 

He followed after the others and by the time he was there, Hansen was laying on the couch, unconscious for a moment before opening her eyes and sighing in relief before letting her head rest on a pillow.

"Stay with her, Tony, make sure that the protection we cast worked. You won't be able to fight her off but you can warn us if something happens. If the control is not gone, run. She is a force to be reckoned with," commanded Strange, leaving him no choice but to oblige.

The woman was similar to the scientist he had seen many years ago, but there was something different about her as well. She now had an aura of a superhero even without the glowing skin he associated with Extremis. He didn't know if it was the same version of the serum or even similar as all of his knowledge about it came from Alter's offhanded comments about her being fiery.

Maya was awake, her eyes barely open, looking at him from the corner of her eye. He was pleased to see no malice or desperation in them like he had once seen in the basement he had been trapped in. She was a different person from the one his universe used to have.

Hansen sat up and blinked blearily before looking him up and down and saying, "So you're that other Tony Stark everyone has been talking about."

"Uh, yeah, it's me. Nice to meet you, Doctor Hansen," he raised his hand to shake hers.

Before her hand met his, a loud crash sounded from somewhere along the hallway. It was in the direction Rogers and Strange had gone, so it could only signify one thing. There was trouble with the controlled.

Maya hopped up before losing her balance and propping back down on the couch. She narrowed her eyes and tried again, an orange glow lighting up her body when she rose again and got on her way towards the room in question.

Tony stepped back involuntarily. He still had less than pleasant memories about Extremis, having been almost killed by the burning hot enhanced. It didn't help that he had to spend weeks trying to reverse the effects of the serum in Pepper's body.

There was nothing after the sound, so Tony lifted his eyes and asked, "J? Is everything alright with them?"

"Yes, the two threats have been neutralized and are bound by a spell for the time being due to their violent reaction."

"Hansen, you heard him, there's no need to attack them, they have it covered," he called to the woman who was currently power walking burns into the floor as she had seared through the thin shoes she had been previously wearing.

Her glowing dimmed and she stared at her current lack of footwear and said, "I just burned through my 3rd favorite pair of shoes for nothing?" he saw her tired expression after she turned around and walked back.

"I guess so. But I think we could check up on the others?"

She turned around once more, Tony moving right behind her like a shadow.

Maya opened the door and revealed an only slightly destroyed living room. The couch had been thrown against the wall and it was a near miracle it hadn't gone all the way through and instead was hanging with one leg from the hole that did appear.

The two men who now lacked a couch to sit on were on armchairs, their heads dropped on their chests and seemed unconscious, orange circles floating around their body like magical hula hoops.

"I wonder why they aren't waking up, it's been a short while already," she remarked, squatting on the ground to see if their eyes were even slightly open, but she shook her head when she only saw closed eyelids.

"Maya, watch out!" yelled out Tony, which made her turn her head.

Behind her were Strange and Rogers, fists raised and ready to fight.


	26. Fighting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maya and Tony are forced to battle with their allies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to CookieKira for being my beta!

"Ah, shit. I forgot that they could do that," she cursed and made herself glow once again. "I really don't want to fight you when one of you is in the body of an actual supersoldier."

With those words, she landed a searing punch at whoever was inhabiting Strange's body right now, making him shout in pain as the glowing fist burned through the thin fabric he wore. The cloak that was once again limp against his shoulders twitched slightly.

Before she could do more damage with her strength and heat, she was hit from behind by the other attacker. Cap's gloves protected his hands from her powers, so the person in his body could land a hit without harming him. The super soldier strength he now possessed threw her across the room despite her own powers. 

Thinking the battle was over, they relaxed their defenses but in a moment, a chair was smashed against not-Rogers' head, however it did not even make him budge. Before he could react though, the other man's legs were kicked out from under him and he tumbled against not-Rogers, making it hard for him to immediately attack without harming the other.

The shield he hadn't bothered to pick up was thrown against his torso, albeit sloppily. It bounced off him with a painful thud and landed on the side, out of his sight and reach. Bleeding slightly from the wound on his head and covered in wood splinters, he charged for the short man that had foolishly attacked him. He launched him against the couch that was leaning on the wall, where Tony landed and slid down the side of it until he was sitting and stayed there, his eyes sliding shut.

By then, Maya had recovered and was angry, the heat almost arcing off her skin, the temperature rising and vaporizing the blood that had run out of her wounds when she had cooled down after the blow.

She sidestepped Strange's body, which was laying on the floor after he had hit his head upon falling. Maya aimed a super-powered blow against Rogers’ head and it connected, making him fall to the ground as well.

The two restrained men suddenly recovered, their heads snapping up and matching looks of horror appearing on their faces.

Strange groaned on the floor, his cloak returning to its lively state and raising him up. He touched the swollen bump on his head and muttered, "I think I'm going to lay down now."

The woman's gaze landed on Tony and she shouted, "Stark!" She crouched down and looked at him, noting his unfocused and confused gaze.

"I guess hitting their heads worked," he slurred.

"JARVIS, get a medic here, for all of them," she spoke to the ceiling.

At this moment, Wong arrived through a portal. Right behind him came running the other heroes, having been alerted by the sound as well.

“Did you get the other two?” asked Strange of Wong.

“They are shielded from the stone’s influence and are currently asleep. I did as you asked and used a spell on them to prevent what happened-” he waved his hand around, motioning to the entire room, “here.”

“Could someone tell us what is going on here? Why are Rene and Diego restrained? What happened to the two of you and Tony?” inquired one of the heroes that had appeared in the room. 

Stephen, tired and all but cradled in the Cloak, motioned to Maya, who was dealing with Tony’s head wound. 

She diverted her attention from the injured man and spoke, “Thanos’ allies used the Mind Stone to control six members of the Avengers so they could find out where we’d hidden the remaining stones. They’d planned for us to secure the stones and give them into their possession once they arrived with their army. They were going to do what Thanos failed to do.”

“So the Black Order is going to attack us?”

She nodded, her expression severe. “Most likely. It will take a bit for them to notice our freedom, but when they no longer need to keep a steady and slow course to control us, they will fix their ships and send them our way.”

At that moment, the medical personnel arrived, taking the ones involved in the battle with them. Steve waved them off, stating that the bump on his head was already going down. Maya and the previously controlled twins joined the medics though, wanting to be sure that the mind control left no lingering effects.

______________

Tony’s eyes opened and he blinked a few times to try to alleviate the blurriness of his vision. When it cleared, he saw that he was in a hospital room. Suddenly, he remembered what had happened before he fell asleep his hand flew up to his head, only to feel bandages. 

He was about to get out of the bed when someone entered the room.

“Hello, Mr. Stark,” she chirped, her cheerful voice grating slightly on Tony’s ears, “I hope you’ve slept well. You hit your head pretty hard, but thankfully the concussion doesn't seem to be too serious. We need to monitor you, though."

“When can I go? I have things to do.”

“Leaving so soon? Mr. Stark, I'd advise you to stay in here for at least a day."

Tony glared at her, but there was no heat behind the expression. 

"How long has it been since I hit my head?" 

She glanced at her wristwatch and said, "Three hours. Are you in any pain or discomfort?"

"Uh, a slight headache, that's all. It might be the wound."

"Yes, that might be the case."

Tony was getting tired from the overly peppy woman, so he interrupted her when she was about to open her mouth again, "I'd like to sleep now. Please leave me alone."

He could hear her saying something else, but he tuned it out and closed his eyes. When he heard her close the door, he opened his eyes again. There was no way he could sleep when everything that happened flitted by his eyes the moment he allowed his lids to fall shut.

Tony turned around in bed, trying to get his mind off of things he didn't want to think about. It was hard because it seemed that his mind refused to think about nice things like armor schematics or how much he loved his friends.

He looked around the room, looking for something to focus on when he spotted a tablet laying on a bedside table. He probably shouldn't use it, the slight throbbing of his head protested against the very thought of it, but he had never been good at being bored and he had been bored for too long already.

Tony was about to reach for it when the door opened once again, this time with another person carrying a tray. He wasn't particularly hungry, but he supposed he could eat if the food was brought to him instead of him having to go to the food.

He grumbled his thanks and dug into it. It wasn't anything special, but it wasn't bad. Just on the right side of eh to not be enjoyable. What bothered him though was the way the man stood there waiting for him to finish, but he didn't speed up on his account either. He washed the food down with water and once he was done, he handed the tray back and watched the man leave.

Once more alone, he attempted to fall asleep again, the tablet's presence mocking him, but he managed it this time.

He was woken up a couple of hours later to check on his situation and once awake, he descended into boredom until he let the temptation take him.

Part of the reason he didn't take it before was that he didn't know who the tablet belonged to but once he had it in his grasp, he saw that it was the same exact one he had when he had first begun to work on the Machine project.

He inserted the password and was delighted when it opened. It still had his notes and everything about the Machine, but now it held something else as well. It had information on the Avengers, specs of their weapons and finally, a note with a file attached to it.

The note was an invitation to the Avengers from none other than Steve Rogers, the file was a filled document that only needed his signature for him to officially be accepted to the Avengers team of this world.

Tony closed it as soon as he finished reading it. The tablet and the info was likely an olive branch from Alter, perhaps the invitation to the team as well. He had agreed to work together with the man, but he didn't think he was ready to accept this. 

He didn't want to become an Avenger here because Alter felt bad about what he had done. It was nice, sure, but he had no right to do something like that for Tony. It felt wrong, like pretending nothing ever happened.

He put the tablet back and buried his face in his hands.


	27. Improving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is released from the medbay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, huge thanks to Cookiekir

Soon, he was released from the medbay and sighed in relief when he could put on normal clothes again. A bit reluctantly he grabbed the tablet from the bedside table, careful not to think of the information it held within itself.

As he walked around the Compound, he noticed how the atmosphere had changed. The last echoes of celebration of their victory had dissipated and now everyone was tense and getting ready to fight. The Machine project had been halted for the time being and the only things that were built in the labs were gear for the Avengers, like protective and offensive gadgets. 

Once Tony arrived in the lab and had promised that he was able to work, he as well was given a project to work with. It wasn’t anything overly difficult, but he didn’t like making it as it was a weapon. He didn’t quite like making weapons for someone he didn’t know or trust, but he tried to shove the feeling of disgust down. Tony willed the slight wet feeling on his fingers and the metallic smell away, this was no time to think about the blood he had spilled, this world needed his help. It had been a decade since he sold weapons of mass destruction, this was completely different.

He had been working on improving the framework of the blasters when he heard someone come towards him. Thinking it was someone walking by to check on his work, he didn’t do anything at first, but the heavy steps matched none of the lab workers’, so he eventually turned his head.

He saw none other than Steve Rogers, no longer dressed in his Captain America uniform, a small smile on his face.

“So, Stark, you’re out of the medbay,” he leaned on the side of the table. “Rene sends his apologies. He knows he was mind-controlled but he still feels bad for throwing you.”

Tony dropped the pen he had used to manipulate the holograms and turned towards Steve, trying not to notice how similar he looked to the man that used to be his friend in his world. “He doesn’t need to apologize, he was not the one at fault.” He gazed at the man, searching for something in his eyes, “You didn’t come here only to relay a message, Rogers. What do you want?”

“Did you see the note on the tablet?” At Tony’s nod he continued, “Did you think about it? Have you got an answer for me?”

He sighed, “My answer is no. I don’t want to become an Avenger here, even if I agreed on helping. All I want is to get home. Besides, something tells me it wasn’t completely your decision.”

Steve frowned at that but his voice held no anger, “It was my decision, Tony just gave me the idea. He offered to help you work on the armor as well, if you wanted a more active role in the fighting. But know that he’d understand if you said no.”

Tony’s hands clenched, holding the edge of the table in a death grip, “I need to think about it. I think I want to tell him about my choice myself, so you don’t need to come and check up on me,” he flashed a strained smile at the man, hoping that he would leave once he got what he wanted.

It seemed that he had nothing else to talk about, so he awkwardly said his goodbyes and left Tony alone.

He picked the pen up again and continued working, but he could no longer concentrate as well as he did before, so he got up and got a cup of coffee to have something else to do. He couldn’t stop thinking about Alter’s offer. The man was clearly trying to get his forgiveness, but he wasn’t sure he was able to give it to him yet.

On the other hand, with the armor he could move the ship or at least Nebula to a planet where they could get transportation to get to Earth. 

He didn’t know how time and space would work with the Machine. Perhaps he would arrive there like he did in this universe – something akin to a ghost, lacking a body. Maybe he’d pop back into his body which may be lying motionlessly on the floor of a spaceship, in perfect working order but not conscious. Or his body might be dead and he would either die, become a zombie or have to wait for someone with Strange’s skills to come around and help him.

If he was lucky enough, he’d end up where he started, with the armor, if not, he could end up someplace very unfriendly. Having the armor with him would give him some peace of mind and hopefully, protection.

His fate was on the line and if he left this place, there was a high chance he’d never see Alter again, no way for him to get to him. Perhaps there was a way for him to take his counterpart’s offer, without having to physically work in the same space as him. 

Right now, he needed to concentrate on the objectives he had been given.

Pen in hand, Tony continued his work, the upgrades on the blasters going swiftly as he had a sliver of hope dangling in front of him. 

When he was done, he was given gear to repair with the schematics showing what it should be like. This took him a longer time as it had been thoroughly wrecked and in Tony’s opinion, it would have been easier to just replace. Despite the difficulty, he managed it and sighed in relief when he coated the whole thing with shielding that had been given with the gear. It seemed that the protective layer had been deemed too damaged and they had made a new one.

Once he was finished with it all, he yawned. It had been hours since he first came into the lab and even though he had eaten and taken breaks in that time span, he was tired, plus he had just had a head injury and probably shouldn’t be working this hard or long.

After he had checked the time remaining until the Black Order’s attack, he left the lab. He suppressed a sigh of relief; it was still a week before the ship would reach them, enough time to cobble up some nanite armor with Alter’s resources and train with the team.

It was sometime in the late afternoon bordering on evening, so most people were still training and working with only few roaming the halls. He didn’t meet many people on his way back to his living area and the ones he did see, he exchanged a polite nod with or ignored.

Tony was delighted to find his rooms in better condition than he left them in, yet the scrap armor had been moved with a sticky note saying that they were in Alter’s personal workshop waiting for him to work on the real deal (if he wanted to).

He noted that his window had been replaced and the machines he had disassembled to make his previous attempt at an armor had been replaced with new ones. Another sign of his counterpart’s generosity.

He couldn’t fault the man for trying to get his forgiveness by showering him with gifts and opportunities, he himself had done the same multiple times in the past. Yet, he didn’t feel ready to fully forgive. 

It may have been too early to sleep, but Tony felt quite tired,so he snuggled into the blankets for a quick nap, this time sleep came faster despite the thoughts churning in his mind.


	28. Dreaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has a dream and a good cry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeh I don't know what my updating schedule is doing at all. I'm hoping to finish the fic before September, but we'll see how it goes.
> 
> Big thanks to CookieKira for betaing my fic! My original draft is a big mess and she helps a lot

She was here, with him.

Pepper was back, she was okay, she was alive.

She wasn’t Pepper Nate. Her hair fell over her shoulders and she was barefoot, walking in the grass with him. She smiled, the corners of her eyes crinkling and he couldn’t help but smile back.

He loved, he loved, he loved.

Her hands intertwined with his, holding him and he held her as well. She was here and they’d be okay. Nothing could hurt them anymore.

He always wondered how she could turn him into a mushy, gooey blob of love, so different from the man of iron he tried to be. He counted the freckles on her cheeks and she leaned into a kiss, her lips so soft against his own. 

He loved her, her strength and her no nonsense attitude, her smile, her everything. He loved.

And he knew she loved him as well.

She laid next to him, strawberry wisps of hair pooled around her and whispered, “Stark.”

Pepper continued, louder yet further away, “Stark, you awake?”

“Staa-ark!” she called for him before fading away, her hand feeling more and more like balled up bedsheets to him.

He opened his eyes to a room he had seen many times already – his bedroom in the alternate universe. His eyes burned with unshed tears and he wiped them away, not wanting to cry over something as trivial as a dream.

Tony heard someone banging on the door leading into his living area and he yelled, mind and voice still hazy with sleep, “Who’s there?”

He looked out of the window to see that it was still light out, yet the sun would soon set, meaning he had only slept a couple of hours. He hopped out of the bed and dragged himself to the door, still dressed in only a tank top and boxers.

There was still knocking on the door when he got to it and when he pulled it open, he almost got hit in the nose by one of Nate’s attempts to call him to his door. Her hand stopped mere inches away from him and she lost her balance, surprised by the lack of a door to hit.

Nate withdrew her hand and looked sheepish.

"Hi, Mr. Stark. I know it's kind of late, but Tony insisted on calling you and since you didn't answer when I called you on your tablet, I came here to get you. I hope I didn't wake you up."

He was frozen on the spot, not able to bear her presence, her words barely registering. Everything about her screamed wrong and the tears he had been holding back threatened to well up in his eyes and spill.

She frowned, her eyebrows knitting together, "Are you okay?"

He took a deep breath and managed to talk without stuttering, "Uh, yeah. Why are you asking?"

"It's just that you look exactly like my Tony when something is bothering him."

That was the final straw. She acted just like Pepper would, her eyes shone with the same kindness and she knew things about him that nobody else did. When he saw Alter walking towards the two, he realized that he had something he might never have again - his love, the other half of him.

Tony did the most embarrassing thing.

He started crying. His walls had been broken down and he couldn't hold his tears back anymore. It was quiet at first, just tears running down his cheeks and his mouth scrunched up, but when he saw their worried faces after he blinked away the blurriness, he began to sob. 

He heard reassuring words being spoken to him and Alter's worried muttering, but all he could think about was Pepper and her absence. She was gone, gone, gone.

Tony fell to his knees, his face in his hands, trying to hide the shameful display of emotions and shielding himself from the world. He did still hear speaking, but it was far away and he didn't focus on it, too caught up in his own misery to care about the opinion of others.

"Tony," came a steady voice from next to him, unthreatening but firm enough to try to offer him stability.

He let his hands fall from his face onto his thighs and rest there. Turning his head, he realized who had talked to him, the new arrival who was squatting right next to him.

It was Rhodey. It was him, with his gentle smile, perfect huggability and leg braces. Tony's thoughts halted on the last one and he took another look. His eyes weren't lying to him. 

Around the man's legs were the same exact braces he had made for his Rhodey two years ago. He could see the handiwork that could have very well been his own, the same sleepless nights and apologies. It seemed that he couldn't protect his friends in any universe.

Tony couldn't take it anymore, he latched onto the man and trapped him in a hug, resting his head on his shoulder. Rhodey accepted the hug and wrapped his arms around Tony, holding and protecting him. 

They stayed that way until the genius's breathing evened out and Rhodey's shirt was no longer getting wetter with new tears. He whispered comforting words to him and that was all Tony needed at the moment, no messy feelings, nothing but a strong, warm hug.

Soon, he let go of the hug, letting all three people see his tear-stained face and red eyes.

"Hi Rhodey," he said and continued with a wet laugh, "I didn't expect us to meet like this, but what can I do."

"Do you want to get up or are we going to sit on the floor forever?" Rhodey offered a hand to him.

Tony shot a weak glare at him but took the hand and was pulled back to a standing position. He leaned against the wall and blew his nose with the tissue Pepper handed him.

"Look, I planned for you to meet Rhodey and then we could have gone and started working on the armor, but I don't think you're up for this right now," said Alter.

"Just give me, uh," he took a few shaky breaths, "some time, I'll be a-okay in a short while."

He didn't like it. Tony despised the humiliation that had just happened and the entire situation. He wanted nothing more than to drop into his own bed and cuddle with Pepper, feel her soft skin and listen to her laugh. He wanted to ruffle his son's hair and listen to him ramble about science.

He threw all the politeness and common sense out the window and asked Rhodey, "How did your legs get hurt?" 

It was insensitive, he knew it, but he needed to know. He had to know if he was the cause of his best friend's injuries in this universe as well.

Alter looked as if he was about to jump in to Rhodey's defense, his face scrunching up a bit with rage. The rage wasn't guilty, it was pure protectiveness, ready to strike down anyone who even looked at his best friend the wrong way.

Rhodey looked uncomfortable at the question, but answered it nevertheless, "I was injured in a combat mission, the plane malfunctioned and my spine paid the price.”

Tony's eyes had turned glassy and he was staring at a single spot on the immaculate wall, "What kind of a plane was it?"

The man's eyes looked somber as he said, "A Stark Industries plane. It happened years ago when they were still in use."

The eyes of both Tonys shone with guilt and they dropped their gaze onto the floor.

"You have the same braces as my Rhodes, he got them a couple of years ago when he was shot down from the sky by someone who should have been his friend or at the very least a coworker."

"Wait, your Rhodey is paralyzed as well?"

His eyes were still far away when he answered, "Yeah, he has the same exact braces as you and he can walk around with them even though he is paralyzed. Such similar braces, they look as if I made them." he laughed humorlessly at the last one and began to slide down the wall.

"Do you want us to go, Tony?"

"No," he said, eyes pleading, "I don't want to be alone, please be here with me."

Alter raised his hands to signify giving up and came a bit closer even though he had been slowly inching farther away to go hide in his workshop.

"Just give me a minute, I'm going to be fine. I promise, everything will be fine. I'm going to make the armor, I'm going to fight." The latter ones sounded like reassurance to himself to fight through the panic, but he didn't care, he had already shown himself as a weak and emotional mess.

"Yeaaaah. I'm just going to wait here," spoke Alter, already sitting on a nearby seat.

Tony's eyes cleared and he said a single sentence, "I don't want to build an armor with you."

"Wait, what? I know I messed up, but isn't there any way I could make you forgive me?"

Rhodey looked around in confusion and ignored Pepper's head shakes telling him to stay out of it. He had never been the one to watch a situation on the side, so he asked, "What did you do, Tones?"

Pepper was busy trying to get Tony to walk to the seat to interject with an explanation of her own, so the responsibility was laid on Alter's shoulders.

"I might have called Wasp to deal with it. Not Hope, the other one, the one with the blue ombre." His expression turned pleading, "It was a shitty thing to do, especially to a guest, but I was afraid of him, not necessarily of what he could do, but what he was. I know, it's the shittiest explanation yet, but I don't have anything that would help, okay? I was wrong to do that and I regret it."

"She's the one with the bottle thing, right?" To his nod Rhodey scrunched up his nose and asked while gesturing to Tony, "You treated him like a supervillain instead of the superhero that he is?"

By the time they had finished talking, Tony had regained his composure and spoke, "I'm sorry, Stark, I know you really want to work on an armor like that but I don't think I'm ready to have you in the room while I do it. It's just- how do I say it-" he lost his train of thought.

Rhodey butted in, "Your safe place? Your comfort zone?"

After a grateful nod, the man continued, "Yeah, something like that. Maybe after some time, you can come in for a while but not now, definitely not now. It's not that I don't want you there, I just can't handle you being there."

Alter's eyes lit up with realization, "Oh. That's true. This is how I would act, this is how I'd feel if someone invaded my space. Now, I feel even more like a piece of shit and it's nobody’s fault but mine." He turned to Tony, "Do you want to hang out with Honeybear here? I don't think you'd appreciate me being there and he's all alone in this big compound if when not here."

Tony could do nothing more than nod at that, a slight smile appearing on his blotchy and tear-stained face.


End file.
